How Safe is Tesla’s Autopilot?

With the automotive industry moving so fast to automation, much debate has naturally centered on the safety and reliability of self-driving technology. And most notably Tesla’s autopilot feature. While many praise the next-gen technology of driving by Tesla, safety concerns over the use of autopilot continue to be raised.

Tesla’s Autopilot Technology

Tesla Autopilot is a next-gen advanced driver-assistance system (ADAS), which indeed helps in steering, accelerating, and braking the car under certain conditions. The system makes use of cameras, radar, and ultrasonic sensors to view what’s around the car and take the precise decision to drive at that moment. The functionality that this system can do includes adaptive cruise control and lane centering, along with traffic-aware cruise control. However, the autopilot is not completely independent of human role.

Although quite substantial, it still requires a driver to be cautious and always ready to take control in an emergency. In case an accident happens while one was using the autopilot, the affected individual must seek a qualified expert like a car accident attorney in Wichita, Kansas who can explain to them their rights as well as the options available.

Safety Features Built into Autopilot

Tesla has put numerous safety features within the autopilot to enhance driver safety. One of the most major ones is the driver monitoring system through cabin-facing cameras, ensuring that drivers are attentive to the road. Inattentive driving leads to the system giving visual and auditory warnings. Moreover, a very strong safety architecture for Tesla vehicles in autopilot mode is there with multiple redundancies. Therefore, in the event that one mode fails, the others take over in order to maintain control of the vehicle.

Real-World Statistics on Autopilot Safety

Tesla has repeatedly said that a car that has autopilot installed is safer than one without it. It states that when the autopilot functionality is on, there are much fewer accidents per mile as compared to the average national figure registered by all cars.

For 2022, Tesla’s safety report mentions that there was one accident in 4.4 million miles with autopilot engaged, as opposed to the national average of one accident per 484,000 miles. Such statistics tend to hint at the effectiveness of autopilot regarding safety but caution must prevail while taking cognizance of such figures since they are obviously impacted by a host of factors, including perhaps the driving environment and experience.

Controversies and Concerns

Although the statistics are positive, Tesla’s autopilot has been quite a controversial feature. There have been quite a number of high-profile accidents with Tesla vehicles using the autopilot mode and this has raised an eyebrow, especially from the regulators and the public. The critics maintain that such a name as ‘Autopilot’ can let the drivers overestimate the functioning of the system and take it casually. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is already looking into a number of such accidents to find whether or not driver assistance systems played a role in the same.