Tesla’s Autopilot and Full Self Driving technology and nine other assisted-driving systems marketed by major automakers received “poor” ratings from the US Insurance Institute for Highway Safety in a new study. The IIHS, a safety research arm of the insurance industry, also said there is no evidence that Autopilot or other assisted-driving systems have real-world safety benefits, based on crash data.
“We are able to look at insurance claims data. We have been able to look at vehicles with and without these (systems) and determine there is no reduction in claims as a result of these more advanced systems,” said IIHS President David Harkey. By comparison, there is evidence that automatic emergency braking systems cut rear-end collisions by 50% and cut incidents of a vehicle hitting a pedestrian by 30%, he said.
Tesla and its chief executive, Elon Musk, have said that a Tesla operating with Autopilot engaged is about 10 times safer than the U.S. average and five times safer than a Tesla without the technology enabled. Federal regulators are investigating nearly 1,000 accidents in which Tesla’s Autopilot was in use. A civil case scheduled to go to trial next week in California will be the latest test of Tesla’s strategy of blaming crashes on drivers who fail to heed the EV maker’s warnings to pay attention to the road when Autopilot or Full Self Driving technology are engaged.
The IIHS study rated 14 assisted-driving systems from nine automakers against standards it developed. The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has no formal standards governing advanced-driver assistance systems, or ADAS in industry terminology. Of the systems IIHS tested, only one earned an acceptable rating: The Lexus Teammate with Advanced Drive, offered last year on a small number of Toyota Motor’s (7203.T), luxury Lexus LS hybrid sedans.
GM’s Super Cruise and Nissan’s (7201.T), “ProPILOT Assist with Navi-link” offered on the 2023-2024 Ariya electric vehicle received “marginal” overall ratings.
Different assisted-driving systems from Tesla, Mercedes-Benz,, BMW, Nissan, Ford, GM, Hyundai’s Genesis brand and Geely’s Volvo Cars brand received “poor” overall ratings, although all achieved “good” scores on certain elements of the IIHS tests, the group said.
