Featured Reuters on Full Self Driving (aka., "Supervised Self-Driving)

Source: Daily Automotive News

REUTERS DISPUTES MUSK’S FSD SAFETY CLAIMS

Elon Musk likes to brag about the safety of Full-Self Driving but a new analysis from Reuters found that Tesla’s claims about the technology are misleading. Tesla says FSD is 10x safer than humans. But Reuters examined how Tesla compares its own crash data to federal crash data, reviewed the methodology that Waymo uses and interviewed 11 traffic-safety researchers who analyzed Tesla’s methodology and found several invalid data comparisons in its FSD reporting. While there isn’t a critical safety issue, the researchers say Tesla’s marketing claims about FSD are misleading. Reuters also spoke to several former staffers that trained Tesla’s system who say the company isn’t close to deploying autonomous vehicles at scale. If that’s true, it could put Tesla’s valuation at risk.​

Behind a $4/month, pay wall, I paid the price and read the article. I was not enlightened but neither am I unbiased. In March 2019 I paid $1,200 for AutoPilot and it saved me and my family from a medical emergency. It paid for itself and the Tesla that day.

My biggest complaint with this article is using "former" employees as the source. Meanwhile, there is a universal Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) that allows with vehicle registration metrics from States to measure fatal accidents of FSD (Full Self Driving) vs humans. A single database that can normalize make model and years of vehicles and participation in fatal accidents.

Since I own no TSLA stock nor have any commitment beyond being a satisfied Tesla owner, I'm not motivated to spend the time (and fees) to analyze FARS data for comparative safety. I already did this in 2009-2011 for the "Bell the Hybrid" Act. But if someone has the time and funds to buy State registration data and analyze the FARS database, we could get a definitive answer.

Bob Wilson

ps. I drive over 90% of my miles in town and highway using FSD. At age 76, it extends my ability to live a free and independent life. I lack the objectivity to do this type of analysis but have skills enough to mentor others.