When Tesla launched the autopilot feature in their cars, some carmakers weren’t too thrilled about it, calling it an irresponsible move. However so far we have seen how useful the feature is as it has been shown that it is capable of helping drivers avoid accidents, but exactly how useful are we talking about?Turns out that Tesla’s CEO Elon Musk has some numbers for us: 50% to be exact. Speaking to Norway’s Minister of Transport and Communications Ketil Solvik-Olsen, Musk claims that autopilot actually helps reduce the probability of having an accident by as much as 50% which is actually a pretty impressive figure.
According to Musk, “The probability of having an accident is 50% lower if you have Autopilot on. Even with our first version. So we can see basically what’s the average number of kilometers to an accident – accident defined by airbag deployment. Even with this early version, it’s almost twice as good as a person.”
For those unfamiliar with Tesla’s autopilot mode, this seems to be a cross between a self-driving car and cruise control. It will allow the car to takeover to a certain extent and steer itself, but it isn’t exactly a fully autonomous vehicle yet. When the feature was first launched, there were some drivers who decided to put it to the test rather recklessly, thus forcing Tesla to push another update that would prevent such reckless behavior.