NHTSA saw Tesla crash rates fall after Autosteer was installed

NHTSA found that airbag-deployment crash rates of 2014-2016 Teslas dropped by almost 40 percent after Autosteer installation. In 2018 it said that it had not assessed Autosteer's effectiveness.

  • Not rated society

    NHTSA later said that the comparison did not evaluate whether Autosteer was engaged, so the extent of any safety gain cannot be established.

Depth runs from 1, a convenience or time saved, to 5, a life or a livelihood preserved.

Status
Reported benefit.
Evidence

foundstudiedreportedclaimed

An independent regulatory document supports the benefit.

Compared with

Crash rates per mile of the same vehicles before Autosteer was installed. Measured.

The system’s part
Not isolated. NHTSA compared crash rates before and after installation over all miles driven, whether or not Autosteer was engaged, so the system's part is not isolated. The report says that the camera system's chip uses a large dataset of vehicle images to classify targets.
Limits
Not yet checked.
Costs and harms
Not yet checked.
Later
Challenged, 2 May 2018. NHTSA said that its crash rate comparison did not evaluate whether Autosteer was engaged and did not assess the effectiveness of the technology.

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Benefit type
Increased Product Safety
System
Autosteer (Tesla Autopilot)
Made by
Tesla Motors, Inc. (camera vision system on Mobileye's EyeQ3 chip)
Used by
Tesla Motors, Inc. (Autopilot Technology Package installed at sale or by over-the-air update)
Where
United States
Stage
In routine use
Date
, when the source was published
Kind
Aggregate result
Broad benefit
Operating Vehicles, Mechanized Devices, or Equipment, Identifying Objects, Actions, and Events
Collections
Scrutiny and findings
Last revised
31 October 2026

Sources

  1. Regulatory document, by authors with no tie to the system.

    National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Office of Defects Investigation. ODI Resume, Preliminary Evaluation PE 16-007: Automatic vehicle control systems (MY2014-2016 Tesla Model S and Model X). Closed 2017-01-19.

    Figure 11 shows the rates calculated by ODI for airbag deployment crashes in the subject Tesla vehicles before and after Autosteer installation. The data show that the Tesla vehicles crash rate dropped by almost 40 percent after Autosteer installation.

Details

AI system

Workflow

Tesla supplied mileage and airbag deployment data for all MY 2014-2016 Model S and 2016 Model X vehicles with the Autopilot Technology Package. Autopilot was installed at sale or added later through an over-the-air update.

Follow-up

Conditions for replication

The driver keeps full attention on the traffic environment and is ready to act. Autosteer is used on highways with a center divider and clear lane markings.

Entry details

Sector

Road vehicle crash avoidance.

Purpose

Tesla built Autosteer, part of its Autopilot driver assistance system, to provide automated lane-centering steering while the driver keeps full attention on the road.

Not yet checked: model, release, provider, role, configuration, inputs and outputs, autonomy, human oversight, AI contribution, beneficiaries, reach, distribution and access, duration, every measurement question, every money question, ownership and control, dependencies, cross-border connections, geopolitical implications, replication attempts, availability, institutional decision, grounds, action and result, success criterion, every evidence question, observed or intended, alternative assessments, related entries, other identifiers, category mappings.

Cite this record

Peter H. Vartanian. (2026). NHTSA saw Tesla crash rates fall after Autosteer was installed (AIBD-0815). Artificial Intelligence Benefits Database, edition of 31 October 2026. https://petervartanian.xyz/aibd/records/AIBD-0815.html (archived at https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/AADSII, version 4.0)

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