Tesla has added a new safety report on its website about its driver-assist system, following public calls for more data from industry figures such as Waymo co‑CEO Tekedra Mawakana. The update focuses on the company’s “Full Self-Driving (supervised)” feature and how it performs on public roads.
Tesla says drivers using “Full Self-Driving (supervised)” in North America travel about 5 million miles on average before a major crash and about 1.5 million miles before a minor crash. The company contrasts those numbers with its reading of National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) data, which it says shows a major crash every 699,000 miles and a minor one every 299,000 miles.
Tesla publishes safety reports every quarter, but critics say these reports lack enough detail. The company has not shared results from its Robotaxi trials in Austin, Texas, where staff sit in the driver’s seat to monitor safety.
Waymo, which has published its own safety data, reports its vehicles are roughly five times safer than human drivers, and about twelve times safer when it comes to pedestrians. At a recent conference, Tekedra Mawakana highlighted the need for openness and said: “I don’t know who’s on that list, because they’re not telling us what’s happening with their fleets.”
She added a call for companies to be clear when they put driverless systems on the road: “I think there is a responsibility, if you’re going to put vehicles on the road, and you’re going to remove the driver from behind the wheel, and you’re going to have someone in some other room observing the fleet who can take over their vehicles, it is incumbent upon you to be transparent about what’s happening.”
On the topic of transparency and safety data, she warned: “And if you are not being transparent, then it is my view that you are not doing what is necessary to actually earn the right to make the road safer.”
The report adds to a wider debate over how much safety data companies should share as development of automated driving systems continues.
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