Tesla reported three separate accidents involving its Robotaxi service in Austin, Texas, amid the service's small fleet operating for only two months, according to Electrek, which states that the company is "trying to hide the details," writes UNN.
Details
As noted, in the US, under the requirements (SGO), automakers are required to report accidents involving their autonomous driving systems and advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS) to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) within five days of being notified of them.
The publication states that "Tesla leads in Level 2 driver-assistance system accidents with thousands of reported crashes, but the automaker has never reported any accidents involving autonomous driving systems because it has never had any system that qualified as an SAE Level 3-5 autonomous driving system, despite the name of its 'Full Self-Driving' software package."
This changed with the launch of Tesla's limited Robotaxi service in Austin, Texas, the publication writes.
"Now Tesla has reported its first three accidents involving an 'autonomous driving system' through its new Robotaxi initiative," the report says.
As stated, "all accidents occurred in July, during the first month of Tesla's operation of its Robotaxi service in Austin, Texas."
At least one injury was reported in one of the accidents, but Tesla classifies it as "minor." None of the accidents are being investigated by authorities based on information released by Tesla, the publication writes.
Tesla, as indicated, has not released many details about its Robotaxi initiative, but it is estimated that as of July, the automaker had only about 12 vehicles in its Robotaxi fleet in Austin, and offered rides only to a limited group of users, mostly influencers and Tesla shareholders who are not interested in criticizing the company.
"As with ADAS accident reports, Tesla hides most of the details about the accidents. Unlike its competitors, who openly publish descriptive information about incidents, Tesla redacts all accident information for NHTSA," the publication states.
This, as noted, makes it difficult to get any context about the accident and assess the level of responsibility of the automated driving system.