Self-Driving Cars Are Way More Dangerous Than You Think.
Why we are miles away from true automotive automation.
Self-driving cars have been a sci-fi trope for decades. But, this pie-in-the-sky technology has become tangible over the past few years. Multiple companies are now running small-scale robotaxi operations, and Tesla has repeatedly claimed that its Full Self Driving (FSD) is safer than human drivers. At face value, we are a hop and a skip away from never having to touch the steering wheel again. But all is not what it seems. You see, when you actually look at the data, these “self-driving” cars are so unsafe it is surprising they are allowed on the street. Let me explain.
Let’s start with the big boy in the room. Tesla. Musk has been known to make BS overexaggerated claims about their self-driving capabilities. Back in 2016, he claimed that Teslas would be able to self-drive across the country “by next year” and that owners would also be able to summon their cars from “anywhere connected by land & not blocked by borders, e.g. you’re in LA and the car is in NY.” Well, it’s 7 years later, and Teslas still can’t do that. But, recently, Tesla claimed that FSD has a crash rate one-fifth that of humans, and my Elon BS radar started to ping.
