Tesla says its Full Self-Driving system cuts major collisions by a factor of seven. The company points to 4.86 billion miles of city driving data to back that up. But Reuters and a group of U.S. senators are pushing back, questioning whether the numbers tell the whole story.
The 7x Collision Reduction Claim
Tesla's claim is striking: vehicles equipped with Full Self-Driving (FSD) are involved in seven times fewer major crashes than those without it. The automaker says the figure comes from analyzing 4.86 billion miles of city-street driving. That's a lot of miles — enough to circle the Earth nearly 200,000 times. But the company hasn't released the raw data or a detailed methodology behind the calculation.
Questions Over Methodology
Reuters reported that the methodology used by Tesla may not be as clean as it appears. The news agency pointed out potential issues with how the company defines a “major collision” and how it compares FSD-equipped vehicles to the general fleet. U.S. senators have also weighed in. They've sent letters to Tesla asking for more transparency. The concern: without independent verification, the 7x figure could be misleading. Senators want to know if Tesla is cherry-picking data or using a control group that doesn't reflect real-world conditions.
Tesla hasn't responded publicly to the criticism. The company's approach to safety data has long been a point of contention. It often releases aggregate numbers without the underlying details that regulators and researchers would need to replicate the results.
The 4.86 billion miles figure itself raises questions. That's a massive dataset, but it's not clear how much of it comes from FSD being actively engaged versus just being available on the car. If the system isn't turned on for a significant portion of those miles, the comparison gets fuzzy.
For now, the debate sits in a familiar place: Tesla says its system works, and outsiders say show us the proof. The senators haven't announced a hearing or a deadline for a response. But the pressure is building. Whether Tesla will open its books — or keep the data behind closed doors — is the next question that needs answering.
