Tesla’s Robotaxi Crashes Four Times In a Single Month

The Tesla Robotaxis, which CEO Elon Musk promised would have millions roaming the streets by next year, has crashed four times in one month.

According to updated files from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration that monitored it ElectricTesla has announced three more incidents involving its Robotaxis vehicle operating in Austin, Texas, bringing the total to seven known incidents since the service first launched in late June.

Four of these incidents occurred in September, all in just the first week, suggesting there may be more incidents to hear about when Tesla does report them.

In any case, it’s an embarrassing number of accidents that can occur when you consider that the automaker’s fleet is limited to just 30 to 40 vehicles, which are geographically located in a relatively small area in one city. Electric It calculated that Tesla’s crash rate, as of last month, was roughly once every 62,500 miles, nearly double the crash rate of its competitor Waymo.

By the way, Waymo operates more than 2,500 robo-taxis across several major metropolitan areas, like Los Angeles, the Bay Area, and Austin, combined for more than 100 million fully self-driving miles.

Tesla Robotaxis doesn’t have any fully self-driving miles on it at the moment, since all of its cars are supervised by a human “safety monitor” who sits in the driver’s seat or sits at the gun. But that makes the incidents she’s had so far even more embarrassing. Safety monitors can step in and take over at any moment – ​​and somehow, the dodgy taxis still manage to swerve their way into obstacles like giant guided missiles. (And yes, about safety monitors, by the way.)

According to the document, one of the most recent incidents reported was with an animal. A video showed how Tesla’s driving software in the past hit a deer in the middle of the road and made no attempt to slow down. The other two accidents resulted in property damage: a robotaxi hit a cyclist in one accident, and a car in the other. No injuries were reported in any of the collisions.

That’s the extent of what we’re told, anyway, as Tesla heavily censors its crash reports, a long-questioned practice by the automaker. Tesla falsely claims that the redacted details contain “confidential commercial information,” so it does not have to disclose to the public how its technology fouls up on public roads.

Tesla also has a habit of reporting its accidents late, and in August of this year, the NHTSA launched an investigation into Tesla for this reason. In some cases, the automaker did not report incidents until months after they occurred.

To make it all clear: Expect to hear more breakdowns in the future.

More about Tesla: A passenger was upset when a “safety” Tesla Robotaxi driver completely fell asleep at the wheel