Tesla is involved in a legal dispute with The Washington Post over releasing information about crashes involving its Autopilot and FSD systems. In a recent court document, Tesla stated that releasing this data could harm its finances and economy, but not because of safety issues, but because of competition.
The NHTSA requires that all automakers report any accidents involving advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS). Most of these reports are related to Tesla. Most of the data Tesla provides to NHTSA is still redacted due to the company’s use of confidentiality rules.
The Washington Post has filed a lawsuit against Tesla and NHTSA to get the redacted information. Tesla believes that revealing this information would let competitors study and compare the performance of different Tesla versions, learn about the company’s rate of progress and data collection, and learn how it analyzes crashes.
Eddie Gates, Tesla’s Director of Field Reliability Engineering, agreed, saying that the data might uncover how Tesla responds to accidents, updates its systems, and which versions are more likely to crash—showing how Tesla has developed its self-driving technology.
Critics, however, argue that Tesla’s reluctance to release crash data suggests a deeper concern: transparency could damage the company’s image and shake investor confidence. According to Electrek, Tesla’s stock price is greatly affected by its self-driving technology. If people knew how these systems really work, it could change the way the story is told.
Ultimately, if crash data were public, the public would gain clearer insights into the safety and performance of Tesla’s self-driving features. It might result in more careful monitoring, greater accountability, and safer ADAS technologies across the industry, which is more important than keeping secrets.
