Automotive companies have reported nearly 400 crashes in vehicles equipped with advanced driver-assist systems, according to data released by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. At top of that list is

Tesla

, which accounted for nearly 70% of those reported crashes. But this number isn’t as bad as some stories have made it seem.

This data came about following NHTSA's June 2021 order that required automakers and drivers of vehicles with these Level 2 Advanced Driver Assist Systems (ADAS) to immediately report crashes.

It received its first report a month later and as of May 2022, the agency has collected reports on 392 crashes involving Level 2 ADAS-equipped vehicles.

According to the

federal data

, 273 of those 392 vehicles were

Tesla

vehicles equipped with Level 2 ADAS.

The next highest on the list was Honda with 90 vehicles, followed by Subaru with 10.

Two of the Detroit Big Three, Ford and General Motors, had 5 and 2 reported crashes, respectively.

Of those 392 reported crashes—125 of which occurred in California—injury severity was unknown for 294, while 46 reported no injuries. Another 19 reported minor injury, while 22 reported moderate injury. Five of those crash reports indicated serious injuries, while another six reported fatalities from those crashes.

When it comes to exactly what these Level 2 ADAS-equipped vehicles crashed into, 116 of them were with another vehicle, while another four were with what the agency calls a "vulnerable road user"—one cyclist and three pedestrians, in this case.

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What is Level 2 ADAS?

There are six “

levels of automation

” per the

Society of Automotive Engineers

, ranging from none to full automation for driverless vehicles. For instance, a vehicle with Level 0 autonomy would see the driver performing all tasks necessary to operate the vehicle.

Level 1 vehicles throw some driver assist features like cruise control into the mix.

Level 2 vehicles—like those included in this federal crash data—feature some automated functions like lane-keeping and adaptive cruise control, but no hands-free driving.

GM’s Super Cruise and Ford’s Blue Cruise are Level 2 autonomous systems, offering limited self-driving capability. Tesla’s Autopilot feature also falls in this category, despite the name.

MORE:

Most Young Drivers Expect To Use an Autonomous Vehicle Sooner Rather Than Later

Is this data really bad news for Tesla?

Any kind of crash data where you come out on top (or bottom?) is bad. But federal officials have noted that this data needs to be taken with a grain of salt as it doesn't paint a complete picture for a few good reasons.

Tesla has more cars on the road with advanced driver-assist technology than its competitors, meaning the numbers are of course going to trend higher than other automakers. Once companies like GM, Ford and Toyota start rolling out these same advanced driver-assist functions across more of their vehicles, we can make more of an apples-to-apples comparison.

“I would advise caution before attempting to draw conclusions based only on the data that we’re releasing. In fact, the data alone may raise more questions than they answer,” NHTSA Administrator Steven Cliff told the media.

It's also just the beginning of the agency's efforts to report this kind of data—and it notes that there might be some gaps in the data as data recording and telemetry capabilities aren't yet standardized.

That means one automaker's crash report may contain different data than another. As NHTSA reports, an automaker with access to advanced data recording and telemetry could report a higher number of crashes than an automaker with inferior capabilities due to its reliance on conventional crash reporting.

Just the beginning for self-driving tech

What this means is Tesla's advanced systems may be hurting it now, but mostly because other automakers have yet to catch up. The agency intends to compile monthly reports of these driver-assist tech crashes in the future, so keep an eye out for the gap between Tesla and other automakers to close as more data is collected.

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