There Are Hundreds Of Accidents Involving Autonomous Vehicles, Proof That The Self-driving System Is Not Perfect

Floods of Tesla autonomous cars crash. (photo: twitter @teslacn)

JAKARTA – Autonomous cars developed by several automotive companies are not completely safe. Many accidents also involve these self-driving vehicles in several countries.

Tesla Inc has reported 273 vehicle accidents involving advanced driving assistance systems such as Autopilot since July, last year. While Honda Motor also identified 90 accidents. The data is known from the US auto safety regulator released on Wednesday, June 15.

The company does have to make a disclosure to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) about this accident data. This requirement is based on an NHTSA order in June 2021.

This rule requires automakers and technology companies to immediately report all accidents involving advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS). In addition, vehicles equipped with automated driving systems are tested on public roads.

Of the total 392 accidents involving ADAS reported by a dozen automakers, there were accidents that resulted in six deaths and five serious injuries.

NHTSA Releases Initial Data on Safety Performance of Advanced Vehicle Technologies https://t.co/SMmLxAZo5e

— nhtsagov (@NHTSAgov) June 15, 2022

NHTSA said Alphabet Inc's self-driving car unit Waymo has also reported 62 accidents involving vehicles with automatic propulsion systems. While General Motors, Cruise, reported 23 accidents.

NHTSA said the data had been used to trigger investigations and recalls and help inform existing flaw investigations. The agency did not immediately identify who was at fault in the crash. But they will release more detailed information about individual incidents on Wednesday.

The agency stressed that accidents are tracked by each automaker in a different way. They also don't encourage performance comparisons among automakers in part because there aren't comprehensive metrics on how widely each system is used.

The NHTSA said of the 130 reported accidents involving automated driving systems, 108 did not involve injuries and one was a serious injury accident.

Meanwhile automakers such as Tesla, Cruise and Waymo did not immediately respond to requests for comment from the media on the crash data report.

Honda Japan told Reuters it had found no flaw in the system. They also state that the crash report is based on customer statements. The report was not verified due to the requirement to comply with NHTSA's 24-hour reporting deadline.

No other automaker reported more than 10 accidents involving ADAS during this period.

Despite those limitations, NHTSA says the data is important to quickly spot potential security flaws or trends. Incidents that occur when advanced systems are activated within 30 seconds of a crash must be reported within 24 hours to NHTSA.

"By providing NHTSA with timely and critical security data, it will help our investigators quickly identify trends in potential flaws," NHTSA Administrator Steven Cliff told reporters.

He warned the number of raw incidents reported per manufacturer "by itself is not enough to draw conclusions." The agency plans to release new data every month.

NHTSA has also been researching the Autopilot system and said last week it was increasing its investigation to 830,000 Tesla vehicles with the system. This is a necessary step before you can request a recall.

Regulators have also opened a preliminary evaluation to assess the performance of the Autopilot system after about a dozen accidents in which a Tesla vehicle hit a stopped emergency vehicle.

Separately, NHTSA has opened 35 special accident investigations involving Tesla vehicles in which ADAS is suspected to have been used. A total of 14 accidental deaths have been reported in the Tesla investigation, including a California crash in May that killed three people.

Tesla says the Autopilot system allows vehicles to brake and steer automatically in their lane, but doesn't make them capable of self-driving. This means that the Autopilot system still requires the presence of humans so that the vehicle can run safely and under control.