Tesla's self-driving safety claims face scrutiny over allegedly misleading crash data

US senators have asked the nation's safety regulator to examine Tesla's self-published crash statistics for its "Full Self-Driving" (FSD) driver-assistance system. Senators Edward Markey of Massachusetts and Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut sent a letter to the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) on Monday, citing an investigative report by Reuters.

The letter argues that the underlying data behind Tesla's FSD safety claims presents an urgent concern. The correspondence asks NHTSA to respond by July 7 to a series of questions, including whether the agency has evaluated Tesla's FSD safety claims or requested the underlying crash data used to support them. The senators also urged NHTSA to strengthen reporting requirements for companies using self-driving technology or advanced driver-assistance systems such as Tesla's FSD, adding that the agency currently has no way of knowing whether such public safety claims are grounded in reality.

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A Reuters investigation published last month found that Tesla CEO Elon Musk and other company executives have increasingly cited statistics over the past year that they say show FSD is up to 10 times safer than human drivers. However, the report suggested that Tesla may have exaggerated the technology's safety by comparing crashes involving FSD-equipped vehicles that triggered airbag deployments with a broader US crash rate that includes many less severe accidents.

The company is also comparing its vehicles with the average US vehicle fleet, which is significantly older. Critics argue that this comparison distorts the results because automakers have gradually introduced new safety features that have helped reduce crash rates over time. The earlier report also stated that Tesla presented these figures to European regulators as part of its efforts to secure EU approval for FSD.

The scrutiny comes shortly after Tesla published its first European safety data for FSD, claiming that drivers using the system in the Netherlands recorded 3.5 times fewer collisions than those driving manually over the past two months.

Despite these claims, Tesla's FSD technology continues to face skepticism from some investors and industry observers. Critics have questioned both the company's safety assertions and the broader narrative that Tesla's autonomous driving lead is insurmountable, arguing that the technology still falls short of matching human driving capabilities in real-world conditions.

( With inputs from Reuters)