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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 few
by 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 agoThis 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 agoMy 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 agoTesla 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.