Tesla, rivals get low marks for automated-driving technology

Tesla’s, opens new tab Autopilot and Full Self Driving technology and nine other assisted-driving systems marketed by major automakers received “poor” ratings from the U.S. Insurance Institute for Highway Safety in a new study released on Tuesday.
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,” IIHS President David Harkey told Reuters.
By comparison, there is evidence that automatic emergency braking systems cut rear-end collisions by 50 per cent and cut incidents of a vehicle hitting a pedestrian by 30 per cent, 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.