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Comment by snek_case | Hacker News Reader

One of the most contentious issues is that Tesla is able to provide a figure in terms of crashes per miles driven on Autopilot whereas other automakers can't do the same.

So they report crashes per 1000 vehicles, but that doesn't take into consideration how much people are using Autopilot vs how much people are using GM SuperCruise. If people with GM cars are hardly ever using SuperCruise but people with Teslas use Autopilot often, that's going to really skew the figure.

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Sure, but is there a reason to assume (mere speculation allowed) that Tesla's software is being used more than GM's?

Maybe it sucks less?

I have no opinion, informed or otherwise on the matter. This is pure speculation. But it seems plausible.

It's more capable. Autopilot can basically do 100% of highway driving from on ramp to off ramp. It can switch lanes, and it can also take an exit from one highway to another highway.

Either way, without data about how often people use each driver assist feature, it's not scientifically rigorous to assume that each system is used exactly in the same proportion. The NHTSA should have made this caveat very clear, and should have released data from Tesla about crashes per miles driven if it's available (even if it's not available for other automakers).

Unfortunately the mile-level data simply doesn't exist. From the NHTSA: "Reporting entities are not required to submit information regarding the number of vehicles they have manufactured, the number of vehicles they are operating, or the distances traveled by those vehicles. Data required to contextualize the incident rates are limited."

Yes; the quality of autopilot greatly influences how much I use it. 5 years ago Tesla's was kind of nerve-wracking and I rarely used it. Now it's pretty good on highways but I don't use it on city streets. I probably will when the quality goes up. So I've gone through 10x changes in usage as quality improved.

I don't know what GM's autopilot is like, but I wouldn't assume that usage would be similar even within an order of magnitude.

If by "pretty good" you mean an absolute f'ing nightmare for the other drivers on the road, especially the ones driving behind the Tesla who must be prepared to react to it slamming on the brakes at random intervals because Autopilot misidentified a shadow on the road.

Autopilot is about as good as a teenage driver getting in the car for the second time.

I’ve used Autopilot (EAP, lane keeping, auto lane changes and highway transitions on intestates) more miles in four years (without an accident or death) than some people drive their car in it’s entire lifetime, and yet, my Tesla will only get counted as a single vehicle in the stats. Including miles is a necessary datapoint, statistically speaking.

I have two cars with technologies like this, Nissan ProPilot and Tesla Autopilot. ProPilot steering assist is useless on my most common two lane curvy roads and just annoying enough to not be worth it on some four lane divided highways.

Tesla Autopilot handles both of those same streets, which are my most commonly driven streets, very well. It gets used much more frequently. Anecdotally, I hear similar reports about other systems.

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