IIHS Study Gives Major Assisted-Driving Systems Poor Safety Ratings
A study released by the U.S. Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) rated Autopilot and Full Self Driving technology, along with nine other assisted-driving systems, as “poor” in terms of safety. The IIHS found no evidence of real-world safety benefits from these systems based on crash data. Automatic emergency braking systems were noted to significantly reduce rear-end collisions and incidents involving pedestrians. Only Lexus Teammate with Advanced Drive received an acceptable rating, while GM’s Super Cruise and Nissan’s ProPILOT Assist with Navi-link received “marginal” ratings. Federal regulators are investigating nearly 1,000 accidents involving Tesla’s Autopilot. The study emphasized the lack of federal regulations governing advanced-driver assistance systems and recommended implementing safeguards to prevent misuse. Automakers were encouraged to adopt existing technology such as driver-monitoring or attention warnings to improve safety ratings. Tesla and other automakers are continuously enhancing their systems, with Tesla revising its Autopilot software following a federal recall agreement late last year.