4 ms·

Are you saying that the two paragraphs before this quote are inaccurate?

danso 9y ago
Consider this graf: > In the US, there is one automotive fatality every 86 million miles across all vehicles from all manufacturers. For Tesla, there is one fatality, including known pedestrian fatalities, every 320 million miles in vehicles equipped with Autopilot hardware. If you are driving a Tesla equipped with Autopilot hardware, you are 3.7 times less likely to be involved in a fatal accident. Let's put aside the consideration of how the average Tesla driver differs compared to the average American driver, or how the average mile driven by Autopilot differs compared to the average mile driven by all human drivers; I'm a little bit bothered by the language here: > If you are driving a Tesla equipped with Autopilot hardware... > every 320 million miles in vehicles equipped with Autopilot hardware... Why is the language "equipped with Autopilot hardware" used? Tesla isn't able to give an estimation of when Autopilot was equipped and engaged?
- 1123581321 9y ago
  That's an interesting question. Similarly, one could ask why the focus on fatalities rather than crashes as Tesla's superior traditional safety rating means fewer crashes should be fatal, all else equal. However, these questions don't lead anywhere interesting. Model S and X cars were driven before and after Autopilot was activated (no hardware change), and the crash rate was reduced after activation. This is the "40% reduction" mentioned by Tesla in the article you pulled the quotes from. You can read a summary here: https://www.theverge.com/2017/1/19/14326258/teslas-crash-rate-dropped-40-percent-after-autopilot-was-installed-feds-say https://www.theverge.com/2017/1/19/14326258/teslas-crash-rat...
  - jijojv 9y ago
    This 40% has nothing to do with Autopilot and applies to any cars with auto braking. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety says automatic braking — which can bring the car to a stop if it senses an imminent collision — can reduce rear-end crashes by 40 percent.
    - 1123581321 9y ago
      My bad -- I thought that was one of the features of Autopilot. It still looks like the safety improved after the Autopilot rollout, but hopefully some public numbers with more granularity in regards to these software features can be released.
      - makomk 9y ago
        Tesla likes to market their version of automatic braking as part of Autopilot because it makes the safety of Autopilot look better, but it's a fairly common feature that is available on many models of cars, that the entire industry plans to make standard on all new cars in a few years, and that operates even when Autopilot mode - the controversial feature that drives Teslas into concrete barriers and trucks - is not engaged.
- rgbrenner 9y ago
  Also, they've had 3 fatalities so far. If one fully occupied model x (5 people) crashes and kills everyone... it's back to the average. If the people in the other car die too, it's less than average. That safety advantage can be wiped out in a single accident. Tesla has been lucky that all 3 have been occupied by a single person.
  - empath75 9y ago
    Tesla’s aren’t exactly minivans. I doubt there are a lot of families driving around with them. I really think Tesla is jumping the gun with autopilot.

Consider this graf: > In the US, there is one automotive fatality every 86 million miles across all vehicles from all manufacturers. For Tesla, there is one fatality, including known pedestrian fatalities, every 320 million miles in vehicles equipped with Autopilot hardware. If you are driving a Tesla equipped with Autopilot hardware, you are 3.7 times less likely to be involved in a fatal accident. Let's put aside the consideration of how the average Tesla driver differs compared to the average American driver, or how the average mile driven by Autopilot differs compared to the average mile driven by all human drivers; I'm a little bit bothered by the language here: > If you are driving a Tesla equipped with Autopilot hardware... > every 320 million miles in vehicles equipped with Autopilot hardware... Why is the language "equipped with Autopilot hardware" used? Tesla isn't able to give an estimation of when Autopilot was equipped and engaged?

1123581321 9y ago
That's an interesting question. Similarly, one could ask why the focus on fatalities rather than crashes as Tesla's superior traditional safety rating means fewer crashes should be fatal, all else equal. However, these questions don't lead anywhere interesting. Model S and X cars were driven before and after Autopilot was activated (no hardware change), and the crash rate was reduced after activation. This is the "40% reduction" mentioned by Tesla in the article you pulled the quotes from. You can read a summary here: https://www.theverge.com/2017/1/19/14326258/teslas-crash-rate-dropped-40-percent-after-autopilot-was-installed-feds-say https://www.theverge.com/2017/1/19/14326258/teslas-crash-rat...
- jijojv 9y ago
  This 40% has nothing to do with Autopilot and applies to any cars with auto braking. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety says automatic braking — which can bring the car to a stop if it senses an imminent collision — can reduce rear-end crashes by 40 percent.
  - 1123581321 9y ago
    My bad -- I thought that was one of the features of Autopilot. It still looks like the safety improved after the Autopilot rollout, but hopefully some public numbers with more granularity in regards to these software features can be released.
    - makomk 9y ago
      Tesla likes to market their version of automatic braking as part of Autopilot because it makes the safety of Autopilot look better, but it's a fairly common feature that is available on many models of cars, that the entire industry plans to make standard on all new cars in a few years, and that operates even when Autopilot mode - the controversial feature that drives Teslas into concrete barriers and trucks - is not engaged.
rgbrenner 9y ago
Also, they've had 3 fatalities so far. If one fully occupied model x (5 people) crashes and kills everyone... it's back to the average. If the people in the other car die too, it's less than average. That safety advantage can be wiped out in a single accident. Tesla has been lucky that all 3 have been occupied by a single person.
- empath75 9y ago
  Tesla’s aren’t exactly minivans. I doubt there are a lot of families driving around with them. I really think Tesla is jumping the gun with autopilot.