Self-driving cars are often marketed as safer than human drivers, but new data suggests that may not always be the case.<\/p>\n
Citing data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), Electrek reports<\/a> that Tesla disclosed five new crashes involving its robotaxi fleet in Austin. The new data raises concerns about how safe Tesla\u2019s systems really are compared to the average driver.<\/p>\n Tesla reported the crashes last month, covering incidents from December 2025 and January. All five involved Tesla Model Y vehicles operating in Austin with autonomous driving systems engaged.<\/p>\n The incidents included a collision with a fixed object at 17 miles per hour, a crash with a bus while the Tesla vehicle was stopped, a crash with a truck at four miles per hour, and two cases where Tesla vehicles backed into fixed objects at low speeds.<\/p>\n Electrek also reports that Tesla has now submitted data for 14 total crashes since the robotaxi service began operating in Austin last June. Based on Tesla\u2019s fourth-quarter earnings report, which showed the fleet reached roughly 700,000 cumulative paid miles through November, the outlet estimates the fleet likely surpassed 800,000 miles by mid-January. With 14 crashes in that time period, that comes out to roughly one crash every 57,000 miles.<\/p>\n Even by Tesla\u2019s own metrics, that\u2019s not great.<\/p>\n