The US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHSTA) has linked 392 crashes to self-driving and driver assistance systems in the past 10 months, according to a report by IANS. The report mentioned that about 70 per cent of those accidents were Elon Musk-owned Tesla vehicles.
According to Engadget, the US NHTSA released data on 10 months of crashes between July 1, 2021 and May 15, 2022, involving cars with automated components.
The report said that out of 392 crashes, 273 were Tesla vehicles using Autopilot or the Full Self-Driving (FSD) beta.
Honda cars were tied to 90 incidents, while Subaru models were involved in 10. Other makes, including Ford, GM, VW, and Toyota, had five incidents or less.
Out of the 98 crashes with injury reports, 11 were serious. Five of the Tesla incidents were fatal. The 130 total crashes for self-driving systems included 108 with other cars and 11 with ‘vulnerable’ road users like cyclists and pedestrians, the report said.
The findings are a response to a Standing General Order requiring that car manufacturers and operators report crashes to the NHTSA when Level 2 or higher autonomy is active at the time of the incident.
The transportation agency hopes the info will support a "more data-driven approach" to safely rolling out self-driving tech, including regulation and education.
On the other hand, Tesla Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Elon Musk has estimated that his electric vehicle company's full self-driving (FSD) Beta version 11 would be ready for wide release by the summer of 2022.
Musk replied when a user on the microblogging site Twitter asked him when FSD Beta version 11 would be rolling out to testers.
"I am driving an alpha version of FSD on highway and it is not quite ready. Probably ready for wide release this summer," Musk wrote.