Tesla vehicle crash rates dropped almost 40% after the installation of Autopilot’s Autosteer feature, a new report from the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) reveals.
The report comes as the NHTSA closes its investigation into a 2016 crash that killed a Tesla driver whose Model S was in Autopilot mode. The agency cleared Tesla of fault in the incident, saying it didn’t find any defects in the design or performance of Autopilot or Tesla’s Automatic Emergency Braking system.
Tesla won’t face a recall as a result of the crash, either.
Autosteer is at the heart of Autopilot, and is designed to be used on highways and limited-access roads. The feature arrived in 2015, and using a Tesla vehicle’s front-facing cameras, radar and ultrasonic sensors, detects lane markings and the presence of other cars and objects to stay centered in a lane.
The NHTSA highlighted Tesla’s efforts to convey the limitations of the system and instructions in the owner’s manual and elsewhere that drivers must keep hold of the steering wheel and be able to take control of the vehicle at any time when using Autosteer.
