How Safe is FSD? Tesla Releases New Data

Tesla has released a sweeping new set of safety statistics for Full Self-Driving (Supervised), offering its most comprehensive look yet at how the technology performs in real-world conditions.

The data, drawn from billions of miles driven across North America, reinforces Tesla’s long-standing claim that supervised autonomy can dramatically reduce collisions, injuries, and fatalities — and positions FSD (Supervised) as one of the most impactful road-safety technologies currently available.

Billions of Real-World Miles, Trained on “Centuries” of Data

Unlike traditional driver-assistance systems, Tesla’s approach is rooted in scale. With millions of vehicles contributing anonymized data, Tesla says its FSD fleet is effectively “trained on more than 100 years of driving experience,” allowing the neural networks to encounter a lifetime of scenarios every 10 minutes.

This enormous data advantage, Tesla says, is what enables FSD (Supervised) to perform consistently in nearly every conceivable scenario.

Hard Numbers Show the Gap Between FSD and Human Driving

Tesla’s newly released chart, Miles Driven Before a Collision, illustrates just how large the safety gap has become:

  • 5.1 million miles driven before a major collision with FSD (Supervised)
  • 2.3 million miles when driving manually with Tesla’s active safety features
  • 972,000 miles manually without active safety
  • 699,000 miles for the overall U.S. average

In other words, FSD (Supervised) drivers see over 7x fewer major crashes and 7x fewer minor crashes, with a 5x reduction in off-highway incidents.

If Adopted Nationally, Tesla Says FSD Could Save 32,000 Lives Per Year

Tesla’s new estimates highlight just how much human error drives roadway tragedies:

  • 30% of U.S. road deaths in 2023 involved alcohol
  • 44% of occupant fatalities involved no seatbelt
  • 29% involved speeding
  • 29% involved distracted driving

Because FSD (Supervised) doesn’t get drunk, glance at a phone, or forget a seatbelt, Tesla says widespread adoption could prevent 32,000+ deaths and 1.9 million injuries every year, based on 2023 NHTSA data.

Safety Starts With the Car Itself

Tesla also emphasized that FSD is layered on top of the company’s built-in safety architecture, including large crumple zones, advanced airbags and seatbelts, battery fire-runaway protection, automatic emergency braking, driver drowsiness alerts, and continuous over-the-air (OTA) safety improvements.

FSD (Supervised) Makes Roads Safer Today

Tesla isn’t waiting for full autonomy to make road-safety claims. The company stresses that FSD (Supervised) is already delivering measurable, repeatable reductions in accidents even when human supervision is required.

With the newest data drop, Tesla is making its boldest case yet: supervised autonomy isn’t just a convenience feature — it’s a public-safety technology capable of saving thousands of lives every year.

You can check out the full data set on Tesla’s website.

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