Tesla’s Robotaxis, which CEO Elon Musk promised would number in the millions roaming the streets by next year, have now crashed four times in a single month according to updated filings from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, as noticed by Electrek. Tesla has reported three additional crashes involving its Robotaxis in Austin, Texas, bringing the total known crashes to seven since the service first launched in late June.
Four of those happened in September, all within the first week—implying there could be more incidents yet to be reported by Tesla. Considering Tesla’s fleet comprises only 30 to 40 vehicles, geofenced to a small area of a single city, the number of crashes is notable. Last month, Electrek calculated Tesla’s crash rate to be about once every 62,500 miles, nearly double that of its competitor, Waymo.
Speaking of Waymo, it operates over 2,500 robotaxis across several major metropolitan areas like Los Angeles, the Bay Area, and Austin, accumulating over 100 million fully autonomous miles. Unlike Waymo’s, Tesla’s Robotaxis are not clocking any fully autonomous miles at present as they all are supervised by a human “safety monitor” either in the driver’s seat or as a passenger. This makes the crashes experienced even more questionable since the safety monitors have the ability to intervene and take control at any moment—yet accidents are still happening.
One of the recent crashes involved a collision with an animal, as indicated in the report. Past video evidence has shown Tesla’s driving software failing to avoid a deer in the middle of the road without slowing down. The other two crashes resulted in property damage: one Robotaxi collided with a bicyclist, and another hit a car. Fortunately, no injuries were reported in any of the collisions.
Tesla has been criticized for heavily censoring its crash reports, a tactic that has been long criticized. The company justifies the redactions by claiming the details contain «confidential business information,» thereby avoiding disclosure of how its technology may be malfunctioning on public roads.
Moreover, Tesla has been known to delay the reporting of its crashes, leading the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to launch an investigation into the company this past August for such delays. In some instances, crashes weren’t reported until months later.
In conclusion: it seems likely that reports of more crashes will surface in the future.
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Con información de https://futurism.com/advanced-transport/tesla-robotaxi-crash-four-times-month
