Gary Zhou 
Tesla Autopilot safety improved in terms of accident data from Q2 to Q3, company data shows.
Tesla’s latest Vehicle Safety Report revealed a decline in accidents per million miles driven with Autopilot engaged compared to the previous quarter. Tesla vehicles operating on Autopilot registered one crash for every 6.26 million miles driven. This was an improvement from the 5.10 million miles traveled per accident when drivers utilized Autopilot in Q2 2022.
For drivers who weren’t using Tesla’s Autopilot technology in Q3, Tesla recorded one crash for every 1.71 million miles driven. Q2 data showed one accident per every 1.54 million miles driven without Autopilot.
The company’s report stated:
“In the 3rd quarter, we recorded one crash for every 5.54 million miles driven in which drivers were using Autopilot technology. For drivers who were not using Autopilot technology, we recorded one crash for every 1.58 million miles driven. By comparison, NHTSA and FHWA data from 2021 shows that in the United States, there was an automobile crash approximately every 652,000 miles.”
Tesla notes that compared with the latest data available from the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration and the Federal Highway Administration, there was an automobile crash around every 652,000 miles in the U.S.
Interestingly, Tesla’s Autopilot safety statistics regressed in Q2 2022 compared to the previous quarter. Tesla recorded one crash on Autopilot every 6.57 million miles traveled in Q1, but this figure decreased in Q2 to 5.10 million miles. Tesla is back on track with the increase in miles traveled per accident in Q3.
Tesla collects the number of miles driven by each vehicle for Autopilot and manual driving “based on available data we receive from the fleet, and do so without identifying specific vehicles to protect privacy.” The company also receives crash alerts anytime a crash occurs from the fleet.
Tesla had not reported Vehicle Safety Reports for some time, but explained the absence in data:
“We are proud of Autopilot’s performance and its impact on reducing traffic collisions. The benefit and promise of Autopilot is clear from the Vehicle Safety Report data that we have been sharing for 4 years. As part of Tesla’s commitment to continuous improvement, recent analysis led us to identify and implement upgrades to our data reporting. Specifically, we discovered reports of certain events where no airbag or other active restraint deployed, single events that were counted more than once, and reports of invalid or duplicated mileage records. Including these events is inconsistent with our methodology for the Vehicle Safety Report and they will be excluded going forward. These upgrades in data analysis reinforce the positive impact that Autopilot has on vehicle safety.”
