this post was submitted on 02 Apr 2025
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TL;DR: Self-Driving Teslas Rear-End Motorcyclists, Killing at Least 5

Brevity is the spirit of wit, and I am just not that witty. This is a long article, here is the gist of it:

  • The NHTSA’s self-driving crash data reveals that Tesla’s self-driving technology is, by far, the most dangerous for motorcyclists, with five fatal crashes that we know of.
  • This issue is unique to Tesla. Other self-driving manufacturers have logged zero motorcycle fatalities with the NHTSA in the same time frame.
  • The crashes are overwhelmingly Teslas rear-ending motorcyclists.

Read our full analysis as we go case-by-case and connect the heavily redacted government data to news reports and police documents.

Oh, and read our thoughts about what this means for the robotaxi launch that is slated for Austin in less than 60 days.

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[–] [email protected] 28 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Five years ago, you could not have brought this up without Musk simps defending it.

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[–] [email protected] 30 points 1 day ago (15 children)

Why is self-driving even allowed?

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 day ago (6 children)

Robots don't get drunk, or distracted, or text, or speed...

Anecdotally, I think the Waymos are more courteous than human drivers. Though waymo seems to be the best ones out so far, idk about the other services.

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[–] [email protected] 36 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Stop dehumanizing drivers who killed people.
Feature, wrongly called, Full Self-Driving, shall be supervised at any time.

[–] [email protected] 28 points 1 day ago

If you’re going to say your car has “full self driving”, it should have that, not “full self driving (but needs monitoring.)” or “full self driving (but it disconnects 2 seconds before impact.)”.

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[–] [email protected] 30 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)
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[–] [email protected] 19 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Every captcha.....can you see the motorcycle? I would be afraid if they wanted all the squares with small babies or maybe just regular folk...can you pick all the hottie's? Which of these are body parts?

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[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Elon needs to take responsibility for their death.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 day ago

That's why Tesla's full self driving is officially still a level 2 cruise control. But of course they promise to jump directly to level 4 soon™.

[–] [email protected] 21 points 1 day ago (3 children)

as daily rider, i must add having a tesla behind to the list of road hazards to look out

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[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 day ago (3 children)

Good to know, I'll stay away from those damn things when I ride.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 day ago (2 children)

I already do. Flip a coin: Heads, the car is operating itself and is therefore being operated by a moron. Tails, the owner is driving it manually and therefore it is being operated by a moron.

Just be sure to carefully watch your six when you're sitting at a stoplight. I've gotten out of the habit of sitting right in the center of the lane, because the odds are getting ever higher that I'll have to scoot out of the way of some imbecile who's coming in hot. That's hard to do when your front tire is 24" away from the license plate of the car in front of you.

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[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 day ago

Commuting in CA feels like I’m navigating a minefield 🤡

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[–] [email protected] 25 points 2 days ago (10 children)

On a quick read, I didn't see the struck motorcycles listed. Last I heard, a few years ago, was that this mainly affected motorcycles with two rear lights that are spaced apart and fairly low to the ground. I believe this is mostly true for Harleys.

The theory I recall was that this rear light configuration made the Tesla assume it was looking (remember, only cameras without depth data) at a car that was further down the road - and acceleration was safe as a result. It miscategorised the motorcycle so badly that it misjudged it's position entirely.

[–] [email protected] 29 points 2 days ago (7 children)

I also saw that theory! That's in the first link in the article.

The only problem with the theory: Many of the crashes are in broad daylight. No lights on at all.

I didn't include the motorcycle make and model, but I did find it. Because I do journalism, and sometimes I even do good journalism!

The models I found are: Kawasaki Vulcan (a cruiser bike, just like the Harleys you describe), Yamaha YZF-R6 (a racing-style sport bike with high-mount lights), and a Yamaha V-Star (a "standard" bike, fairly low lights, and generally a low-slung bike). Weirdly, the bike models run the full gamut of the different motorcycles people ride on highways, every type is represented (sadly) in the fatalities.

I think you're onto something with the faulty depth sensors. Sensing distance is difficult with optical sensors. That's why Tesla would be alone in the motorcycle fatality bracket, and that's why it would always be rear-end crashes by the Tesla.

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[–] [email protected] 28 points 2 days ago

Whatever it is, it's unacceptable and they should really ban Tesla's implementation until they fix some fundamental issues.

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