# New York Times on Autopilot



## bwilson4web (Mar 4, 2019)

Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/06/technology/tesla-autopilot-elon-musk.html

With 57,796 miles on a 2019 Tesla Model 3, I paid extra for Autopilot and now it is standard. The majority of those miles on Autopilot, the dozens of variation. A transitory medical issue led to Autopilot keeping the car safely in lane and speed … it paid for itself that day!

I will not buy a car lacking Tesla's Autopilot performance. That other EV vendors charge extra for their safety packages suggests a lack of commitment to customer safety (or crappy package.)

I have just over a week of Full Self Driving BETA experience but it is the "E-ticket" ride. Traffic light, Stop, and Yield sign performance is much improved. There are rough edges, like multiple lane left turns (I always take over.) But like Autopilot, it handles more than 95% of the dumber yet dangerous driving tasks.

What the lazy New York Times reporters, Cade Metz and Neal E. Boudette failed to do is report the Tesla Autopilot accident rate. This is what Tesla reports. The NHTSA holds the raw data yet these reporters could not lift a finger to ask NHTSA for the relevant statistics. Accident rates is the bottom line and they missed it.

Bob Wilson


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## bwilson4web (Mar 4, 2019)

Does anyone have an open source of the Tesla production numbers by models by quarter?

I want to plot the total Tesla production numbers as a smooth line and put an icon on each line for the known deaths. The reason is I suspect the rate of Tesla accident deaths has decreased over time. This graph will show the numbers, a perfect answer, to The New York Times article.

Thanks,
Bob Wilson


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## garsh (Apr 4, 2016)

__ https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1429518633760350219


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## gary in NY (Dec 2, 2018)

bwilson4web said:


> Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/06/technology/tesla-autopilot-elon-musk.html
> 
> With 57,796 miles on a 2019 Tesla Model 3, I paid extra for Autopilot and now it is standard. The majority of those miles on Autopilot, the dozens of variation. A transitory medical issue led to Autopilot keeping the car safely in lane and speed … it paid for itself that day!
> 
> ...


Quite an unbalanced article with too much hearsay and not enough critical facts and sources to be authoritative. Disappointing for the NYT, but not for a tabloid or extreme website.


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## bwilson4web (Mar 4, 2019)

BTW, I have a spreadsheet with the quarterly delivery numbers. I plan to sum for fleet minus an annual 2% for those lost. Then I’ll find the “deaths” (see NHTSA FARS database) to add to the plot. It won’t be perfect as deaths outside of the USA won’t be included in FARS.

Bob Wilson


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