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12/03/2024

Tesla And Its Competitors Receive Bad Grades For Their Automated Driving Systems




The U.S. Insurance Institute for Highway Safety gave Tesla's Autopilot and Full Self Driving technology, along with nine other assisted-driving systems used by big manufacturers, "poor" grades in a new report that was issued on Tuesday.
 
Based on crash data, the IIHS, the insurance industry's safety research arm, likewise declared that there is no proof that Autopilot or other assisted-driving systems improve real-world safety.
 
"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," IIHS President David Harkey said.
 
In contrast, he stated that data shows automatic emergency braking systems reduce vehicle-to-pedestrian collisions by 30% and rear-end crashes by 50%.
 
According to Tesla and Elon Musk, the company's CEO, a Tesla running on Autopilot is around five times safer than a Tesla without the technology activated and roughly ten times safer than the average American car.
 
Authorities at the federal level are looking into around a thousand incidents where Tesla's Autopilot was engaged. The newest test of Tesla's strategy, which blames crashes on drivers who disregard the EV maker's warnings to pay attention to the road while Autopilot or Full Self Driving technology are engaged, is a civil lawsuit that is set to go to trial in California next week.
 
There were no comments on the issue from Tesla.
 
Using criteria it created, the IIHS study evaluated 14 assisted-driving systems from nine automakers. Advanced driver assistance systems, or ADAS as they are known in the industry, are not subject to official rules enforced by the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
 
"There are no federal regulations, nor is there good consistent guidance," Harkey stated. "That was our reason for putting these safeguards together."
 
Only one of the systems that the IIHS assessed, the Lexus Teammate with Advanced Drive, which was available on a select few of Toyota Motor's high-end Lexus LS hybrid sedans last year, received an acceptable rating.
 
"Toyota continuously aims to increase vehicle safety," Toyota said in a statement. "As a part of that effort, Toyota, among other things, considers performance in third-party testing programs like NHTSA’s New Car Assessment Program and IIHS’s Top Safety Pick program.”
 
"Marginal" overall scores were given to Nissan's "ProPILOT Assist with Navi-link" and General Motors' Super Cruise, which are available on the 2023–2024 Ariya electric vehicle.
 
"We are evaluating the results from the first-ever Partial Automation Safeguards test and will continue to work with IIHS in all matters related to customer safety," Nissan stated.
 
Super Cruise "is meant to serve as an enhancement to the driving experience," not as a safety feature, according to a statement from General Motors.
 
The group stated that while all of the Tesla, Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Nissan, Ford, GM, Hyundai, Genesis, and Geely's Volvo Cars brands' assisted-driving systems scored "poor" overall ratings, they all received "good" scores on specific IIHS test components.
 
"This new IIHS testing methodology does not assess the performance of the driver assistance systems, instead it focuses on safeguards to prevent misuse," Mercedes said in a statement. "We take the findings of the IIHS partial driving automation safeguard ratings very seriously."
 
According to Harkey, automakers might improve safety ratings by implementing current technology for features like attention alerts and driver monitoring that received "good" ratings.
 
According to the IIHS, Tesla and other automakers are enhancing the capabilities of their systems. In response to a federal recall deal, Tesla changed its Autopilot software, and IIHS will test the modified setup, according to Harkey.
 
BMW spokesman Jay Hanson stated on Monday, "We are certainly going to take in the results of these tests as our cars and these systems continue to evolve." BMW currently provides a more advanced driving-assistance technology in some US models than the IIHS evaluated.
 
The Hyundai premium brand will introduce its first vehicle with an in-cabin camera to track the driver's face and eyes when assisted driving is activated: the Genesis GV80 SUV, which will go on sale in the United States this spring. "This enhancement will also be rolling out to future Genesis products in the coming months and years," the business stated.
 
(Source:www.reuters.com) 

Christopher J. Mitchell
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