The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), which is responsible for rating cars, released a report on Tuesday stating that Tesla's Autopilot and nine other car manufacturers' assisted driving systems have all received "poor" ratings.
These assisted driving systems combine different sensors and technologies to help drivers drive safely and avoid colliding with other vehicles in front and on both sides. Usually, these systems only work on highways. Some even allow drivers to move their hands away from the steering wheel, but all require drivers to always pay attention to the surrounding roads and vehicles.
IIHS stated that based on some traffic accident data, there is no evidence to suggest that Autopilot or other assisted driving systems have better safety advantages.
IIHS President David Harkey claimed, "We can review insurance claim data and determine that these more advanced driving systems do not reduce claims. In contrast, there is evidence that the Automatic Emergency Braking (AEB) system reduces rear end accidents by 50% and vehicle to pedestrian collisions by 30%."
Harkey pointed out that some drivers may feel that assisted driving systems make long-distance driving easier, but there is almost no evidence to suggest that they can make driving safer. "As many eye-catching accidents have shown, when the system lacks appropriate safeguards, it may bring new risks."
Many autonomous driving assistance systems have been criticized for failing to ensure that drivers remain focused and undisturbed during autonomous driving, braking, and acceleration processes. IIHS stated that none of the 14 systems they tested were able to effectively monitor the driver's attention.
Tesla CEO Musk previously stated that Tesla cars equipped with Autopilot feature have safety levels about 10 times higher than the US average and 5 times higher than Tesla cars without this technology.
Meanwhile, federal regulatory agencies in the United States are investigating nearly 1000 incidents of using Tesla Autopilot. A civil case is scheduled to be heard in California next week, which will be the latest test of Tesla's strategy. Tesla attributes the crash to the driver's failure to use its Autopilot system correctly. At the end of October last year, a US jury ruled that the Tesla Autopilot system had no manufacturing defects in the 2019 accident.
Only one "approval" rating
In addition, IIHS also rated 13 assisted driving systems from nine car manufacturers based on its established standards. Harkey said, "Currently, the government has not established relevant standards or established good industry standards, which is why we are rating these driving systems together."
In the IIHS test, only one of the assisted driving systems received a "recognized" rating, namely Lexus's Teammate with Advanced Drive. Nevertheless, this rating is still one level lower than the highest possible rating of "good" given by IIHS.
General Motors' Super Cruise and Nissan's "ProPILOT Assist with Navi link" on Ariya electric vehicles from 2023 to 2024 received an overall rating of "edge".
IIHS stated that Tesla, Mercedes Benz, BMW, Nissan, Ford, General Motors, Hyundai, and other vehicles have an overall rating of "poor" in their assisted driving systems, despite achieving "good" scores on certain elements of the IIHS test.