Tesla Customers Drive Over 8B Miles With FSD, Still Trailing Waymo Driver In Autonomy Despite Bigger Fleet

Tesla said that its vehicles with FSD traveled 5.3 million miles before a major collision, compared to a U.S. average of 660,000 miles.

• In late January, Tesla said in a call with analysts that FSD adoption continued to improve in the fourth quarter, reaching nearly 1.1 million paid customers globally. 
• Waymo said earlier this week that it operates a fleet of over 3,000 vehicles which have cumulatively covered over 127 million fully autonomous miles.

EV giant Tesla Inc. (TSLA) said on Wednesday that vehicle owners have driven over 8 billion miles using its full self-driving (FSD) driver assistance technology.

Tesla expects FSD to enable all vehicles to operate autonomously, traveling point to point without human intervention, in time. However, currently, the technology requires active supervision and the driver to be ready to take over as and when required.

FSD Safety Concerns

The technology is currently under regulatory scrutiny by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration for allegedly breaching traffic laws. The regulator stated in October that its Office of Defects Investigation identified several incidents where FSD-induced vehicle behavior violated traffic safety laws, including scenarios where a vehicle operating with FSD proceeded into an intersection despite a red traffic signal.

However, Tesla claims on its website that FSD keeps the driver safe, reducing the risk of a collision. The company said that Tesla vehicles with FSD traveled 5.3 million miles before a major collision, compared to U.S. average of 660,000 miles.

Waymo Does Way More

In late January, Tesla said in a call with analysts that FSD adoption continued to improve in the fourth quarter, reaching nearly 1.1 million paid customers globally, implying there are over a million vehicles with FSD around the world.

However, despite the large fleet, Tesla’s numbers continue to trail behind Waymo’s autonomous driving technology. Waymo said earlier this week that it operates a fleet of over 3,000 vehicles which have cumulatively covered over 127 million fully autonomous miles unlike FSD’s assisted miles.  

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TSLA stock has gained 16% over the past 12 months.

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