Tesla's Robotaxi program has now recorded a total of seven crashes in Austin, Texas, since its launch this summer.
What's happening?
As reported by Electrek, the electric vehicle manufacturer has revealed that the autonomous car service experienced four noteworthy incidents in the month of September. These are in addition to three other incidents that occurred back in July. Altogether, the company has reported seven incidents to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration so far this year. Despite this, the fleet of Robotaxis has traveled a combined 250,000 miles in just a few months.
On Sept. 4, a Robotaxi was involved in an incident when the vehicle hit a car that was backing up. While the crash resulted in damage, nobody was reported to have any injuries at the time.
Two days later, another Robotaxi struck a cyclist on the road. Once again, there were no reported injuries. However, two separate Robotaxis were each involved in reported incidents the following day. One involved a vehicle hitting an animal, and another struck an undisclosed "fixed object."
Why are reported incidents involving the Robotaxi important?
These incidents have raised a number of questions regarding the company's autonomous vehicle technology and the safety of the Robotaxi program. Each of the reported incidents in September occurred despite the fact that a human safety monitor is present in the front passenger seat of every Robotaxi. The job of each monitor is to intervene in order to prevent accidents.
Tesla has also redacted the narrative sections of its crash reports to the NHTSA, which prevents the public and safety analysts from understanding the exact circumstances of the accidents. Other autonomous vehicle companies, such as Waymo, generally share these details in accident reports.
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Do you trust self-driving cars as much as you trust human drivers? Click your choice to see results and speak your mind. |
No way 👎 Tesla's Robotaxi technology is based on its Full Self-Driving software, which uses a vision-only system with multiple cameras and artificial intelligence to navigate. The system allows vehicles to perform maneuvers such as steering, lane changes, and parking. However, some critics point to a flaw in the Robotaxi's design.
"Tesla's vision-only approach is an impressive academic achievement — it's remarkable how far they've pushed cameras and neural networks. But it's simply not appropriate for true autonomous vehicles," noted one commenter on Electrek. "The whole idea rests on the flawed analogy that 'humans drive with vision, so cars can too,' while ignoring that humans rely on many non-visual senses and a far more powerful, multimodal brain."
What's being done about Tesla's FSD technology?
Tesla CEO Elon Musk first teased the idea of the company producing self-driving vehicles more than a decade ago, offering drivers a more eco-friendly and intuitive driving experience. In 2014, Musk spoke to the Wall Street Journal regarding the future of the technology within the company.
"They will be a factor of 10 safer than a person [at the wheel] in a six-year time frame," Musk said.
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However, Tesla has since struggled to develop the technology and market it effectively. Earlier this year, the company was hit with a warning from France's general directorate for competition policy, consumer affairs, and fraud control. The agency accused Tesla of overstating the "actual functionality" of its FSD technology, resulting in its false advertising to consumers.
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