Tesla Touts FSD Mileage as Robotaxi Crash Rate Comes Under Scrutiny
Tesla announced its vehicles have driven over 8.2 billion miles using its “Supervised Full Self-Driving” system, claiming a sevenfold reduction in major collisions compared to human drivers. However, separate statistics suggest the company's robotaxi fleet is crashing four times more frequently than human-driven vehicles. The conflicting data highlights ongoing debates about the safety and real-world performance of autonomous driving technology.
- The Austin, Texas-based robotaxi fleet, consisting of around 45 vehicles, has been involved in 14 crashes since its launch in June 2025. This calculates to a crash rate of approximately one incident every 57,000 miles, which is four times higher than the average for human drivers. - The term "Supervised" in Full Self-Driving (FSD) signifies that it is a Level 2 driver-assistance system, requiring the driver to remain attentive and prepared to take control at any moment. Despite the name, the vehicle is not fully autonomous. - In October 2025, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) opened an investigation into 2.88 million Tesla vehicles equipped with FSD. The probe was initiated after 58 reports of traffic law violations, including running red lights and driving on the wrong side of the road, which led to at least 14 crashes. - Critics argue that Tesla's safety statistics are misleading because they compare FSD, which is often used in less complex highway conditions, to a national average that includes all types of driving. They suggest a more accurate comparison would be with modern cars equipped with advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS). - Competitor Waymo, which operates fully driverless vehicles, has a lower crash rate than Tesla's robotaxi fleet, with one accident approximately every 98,000 miles. A 2024 study by Swiss Re found that Waymo's technology reduced personal injury claims by 92% and property damage claims by 88% compared to human drivers. - Tesla's method for calculating FSD safety relies on telemetry data and considers a collision to have occurred with FSD engaged if the system was active within five seconds of the event. This methodology has faced scrutiny for potentially not capturing instances where a driver had to intervene to prevent a crash. - Recent incidents have raised further questions about FSD's capabilities, including a case where a vehicle on FSD nearly drove into a lake before the owner intervened and another where the system initiated a lane change into oncoming traffic during a livestream. - Tesla has faced regulatory action regarding its marketing of Autopilot and FSD, recently avoiding a 30-day suspension in California by removing the term "Autopilot" from its marketing materials. The California Department of Motor Vehicles had filed a lawsuit claiming the company misled customers about the systems' capabilities.
