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China tightens up payment rules to automakers
Chinese regulators have introduced stricter rules governing automakers’ payments to suppliers. They are aiming to close loopholes, such as delays in product acceptance procedures and the use of non-cash instruments. In an effort to end the brutal price war in the auto industry, major Chinese manufacturers pledged last year to pay their suppliers within 60-days, after complaints from steelmakers and other suppliers. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said in a press release that payment cycles are still longer than those of multinational carmakers and there is room for improvement. The new rules are more than a simple limit on payment terms. They require 'clearer starting point for payment calculation, deadlines for acceptance procedures, and encourage faster cash settlements, especially for small and mid-sized suppliers. The new rules also include service providers and engineering firms in addition to parts suppliers. Automakers are prohibited from forcing suppliers to accept supply-chain notes, commercial bills or other non-cash payment instruments. The MIIT will, along with the State Administration for Market Regulation, conduct a joint regulatory interview with automakers who have large account payable balances or are suspected of?intentionally extending payment periods?, or that receive complaints repeatedly from small and mid-sized suppliers. The regulators said that companies identified as problematic will be required to rectify payment practices, and those found to violate laws or regulations, they will face penalties. The automakers will be required to submit?semiannual and annual reports on supplier payments, while regulators are expected to publish annual third-party assessment to strengthen oversight.
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Police officers in the eastern German state of defuse 21 explosives near power grid
Prosecutors from the German state of Saxony in eastern Germany said that they had found a total?21 explosives devices?in their investigations of attacks on the electrical grid which have kept authorities alert for several days. The total number of homemade explosive devices discovered by investigators has now reached 21. Germany is the focal point of European concerns about the vulnerability critical infrastructure. It experienced a number of sabotage events on the power grid in the last week after a drone strike in August at Leipzig/Halle, for which the German government officially blamed Russia. German police announced on Friday that they are searching for a suspect who claimed responsibility for a number of sabotage attempts?on the electricity grid last week in letters sent to him. They found what looked like explosives in his home. The man is still at loose. Spiegel reported that the initial findings of an investigation into a fire at a transformer substation earlier in Berlin on Monday showed it was caused by a "technical failure". Police Commissioner Barbara Slowik Meisel was quoted as saying this. Separately Bild reported that the police in the western city of Wesl have started major?assessment ops after it was discovered that the security fence surrounding another transformer substation had been cut.
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Consultancies report that Ukraine's weekly exports of important grains are increasing despite high freight rates.
APK-Inform, a consultancy, reported on Monday that Ukraine's weekly wheat, barley, and corn exports increased by 80% between August 27 and September 2. This equates to?433,700?metric tons. The volume of corn exports increased by 212%, to 184.100 tons. Exports of wheat also increased by 40%, to 243,000 tonnes. Since late July, Ukrainian grain exports have dropped sharply after Russian missiles and drones attacked Ukrainian Black Sea ports near Odesa. APK-Inform data showed that in early July, when ports operated as usual, Ukraine exported approximately 760,000 tons per week. Ukraine redirected grain shipments after the closure of its seaports to ports along the Danube River and its western borders. However, officials and analysts claim that these alternative routes are not enough to compensate for the lost seaports. Ukrainian traders' union UGA stated last week that Ukraine's combined grains and oilseeds exports dropped to 1.2?million tonnes in August from 2.5 million tons in July. Before the blockade, Ukraine exported 4 million tons per month of grains and oilseeds via its seaports. Exports are expensive APK-Inform reported that traders have increased grain cargo shipments to the Danube port by 12% in the past week. However, the export growth has been constrained due to a lack of vessels and high shipping rates. Analysts and traders have previously stated that logistics costs for Black Sea ports are $40-$50 higher per ton than those from Danube port. The grain must be transported via rail to river ports and then loaded onto barges or small vessels bound for the port of Constanta in Romania, where it will be transferred to larger ships. The ASAP Agri consulting firm said on Monday that grain freight rates from Ukrainian Danube port ports are continuing to increase sharply. The report stated that "the limited availability of coaster-tonnage willing to make such voyages combined with the?steadily growing waiting times for passage through Sulina Canal" is forcing charterers 'to accept owners' freight ideas. The report said that the rates of short-haul shipments to Marmara and East Coast Greece ports had risen by $10 in the past week. Meanwhile, rates for long-haul destinations like Italy and Spain were up by $20 to $25 a ton. The barge rate has increased by EUR5 per tonne. The report noted that barges are also in high demand. However, fleet availability is very limited. Freight rates have continued to rise.
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China's soybean processors are facing high costs and low margins ahead of Xi’s US visit
China's private soy processors are facing a difficult fourth quarter as Brazil, the top soybean exporter, is experiencing a tightening of its inventories and because tariffs have kept U.S. cargoes out of their reach. China's shrinking pig population is putting pressure on the world's largest oilseed processing industry. It's already facing negative margins, and a weakening demand for 'feed'. Processors hope that President Xi Jinping’s visit to Washington in this month will lead Beijing to relax a 10% tariff on U.S. agriculture goods. U.S. trade representative Jamieson Greer stated on Thursday that the two countries will make "some announcements" on agriculture and nontariff barriers during the summit. However, he did not provide specifics. Johnny Xiang of AgRadar Consulting in Beijing said: "As South America approaches the end of their marketing season, private crushing companies will need to access U.S. soya beans." "That depends on either tariff reductions, or, if that fails, on Sinograin Reserve?auctions, to keep their factories operating," he said. He was referring to China’s state stockpiler. However, the relief is still uncertain. A crusher in China said, "We do not consider U.S. soya beans because of the tariffs." If tariffs are lowered, we will recalculate crushing margins to determine whether U.S. cargoes could be profitable. Traders claim that China's state owned traders purchased about 11 million metric tonnes of U.S. soya beans after Xi met with U.S. President Donald Trump in May. Private crushers have avoided North American cargos due to tariffs. The Chinese Commerce Ministry has been contacted for comment. RISING PRICES AND NEGATIVE MARGINS Benchmark U.S. soy futures are up nearly 12% since their June lows. This is due to adverse weather in the U.S., Chinese government purchases and expectations of El Nino weather affecting global supplies. Brazilian soybeans were quoted for shipment in November at a premium of between $3.15 and $3.20 per bushel over the Chicago Board of Trade's November soybean contract. This included cost and freight to China. Similar U.S. Gulf cargoes, excluding tariffs, were offered between $3.20 and $3.25 per bushel. Buyers expect that the U.S. harvest, which is expected to begin in the coming weeks, will increase supply and lower prices. "The price of U.S. soya beans is still highly uncertain as China has not yet made large-scale purchasing inquiries," said Xiang. The next harvest in Brazil isn't due until 2027. Even without the 10% tariff, imports of U.S. beans for October-through-January shipment would generate negative crush margins at current prices, according to Rosa Wang, an analyst at Shanghai JC ?Intelligence Co. and three other traders and analysts. Wang stated that "theoretical crush margins" for Brazilian and U.S. soya beans, excluding a 10% additional tariff, ranged from 150 to 230 Yuan ($22.35-$34.27) per ton for October to December shipments. China's pig population is expected to decrease in the fourth quarter, as Beijing intensifies its efforts to reduce inventory and limit hogs weights to stabilize a market oversupplied. Two Asia-based traders reported that importers have completed their October purchases and booked 4.8 millions?tons of goods for November. This is around 60% the projected demand. However, buying for December and early January has only just begun. Limited BRAZILIAN Supply Two Brazilian analysts stated that Brazil's ability to increase fourth-quarter sales of crushed stone to China is limited due to the demand from other buyers and strong domestic crushing activity. Rafael Silveira, an analyst at Safras & Mercado, says that by the end July, farmers had sold 82% (compared to?78%) of the crop for 2025/26. This figure is now likely to be close to 85%, he adds. He said that domestic crushers competed with the exporters and paid prices sometimes above the export parity. Brazil's soybean exports to China were down by 2.6 million tons compared to a year ago, but shipments to all other destinations increased by a whopping?6 millions tons, according to Eduardo Vanin senior agriculture strategist with Marex, in Curitiba. According to Chinese customs, Argentina shipped an extra 7.9 million tonnes of soybeans to China, a 92.4% increase from 2024. However, this buffer is expected shrink in 2026 if similar incentives are not implemented.
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The worst air crashes of recent years around the world
On Sunday, five people were killed when a Boeing 767-3000 cargo plane operated by 21 Air on behalf of Amazon's Prime Air network overran the runway at Miami International Airport. The plane also struck several vehicles before catching fire. Here are some details about other fatal accidents that have occurred in recent years. UNITED STATES Air Canada Express'?pilot and?co-pilot?were killed and dozens of people were injured when the regional jet collided with an oncoming fire truck at New York LaGuardia Airport on March 22, On June 12, 2025, hundreds of people died when an Air India flight to London crashed just minutes after it took off from Ahmedabad in western India. The 242 passengers on board, except for one, were all killed. 19 people on the ground also died. UNITED STATES On November 4, a UPS cargo plane crashed shortly after it took off from Louisville, Kentucky. The three crew members aboard and 12 people on ground were killed. On January 29, more than 60 people died when an American Airlines regional jet collided into a U.S. -Army Black Hawk helicopter and crashed in the Potomac River, near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. SOUTH KOREAN Jeju Air flight 7C2216 crashed into Muan International airport on December 29, 2024 killing all of the 175 passengers as well as four out of six crew members. LITHUANIA Swiftair Boeing 737-4000 freighter operated by DHL crashed in Vilnius Airport on 25 November after a flight from Leipzig, Germany. The plane crashed short of the runway, hitting a residential area and killing the captain. KAZAKHSTAN Azerbaijan Airlines flight J2-8243 crashed on December 25 after it was diverted from Russia to Kazakhstan. It killed 38 people. Ilham Aliyev, the president of Azerbaijan, said that the plane had been damaged accidentally by a Russian ground fire. Moscow hasn't confirmed this. On January 2, a Japan Airlines aircraft collided with an Air Force Coast Guard aircraft at the Haneda Airport in Tokyo. The JAL Airbus A350-941 plane carrying 379 passengers escaped from the burning aircraft. Five out of six crew members on the smaller plane were killed. On March 21, 2022 a China Eastern Airlines Boeing 737-801 crashed into a mountainous area in the southwestern 'Guangxi Region, killing all 132 passengers. Iran's Revolutionary Guards destroyed a Ukraine International Airlines Boeing 737-801 on January 8, 2020, shortly after the plane took off from Tehran Airport. All 176 passengers were killed. Iran's civil aviation body blamed an incorrectly aligned radar system and an error made by an air defense operator. ETHIOPIA All 157 passengers and crew aboard a Boeing 737 MAX 8, Ethiopian Airlines, were killed in a crash on March 19, 2019. Boeing 737 MAX fleet grounded for safety concerns. UNITED STATES On February 23, 2019, an Atlas Air flight, a Boeing 767-3000 freighter?operating for Amazon Prime Air, from Miami to Houston entered a rapid descent before crashing into Trinity Bay in Texas, killing the three people aboard. INDONESIA On October 29, 2018, a Boeing 737 MAX Lion Air aircraft crashed into the Java Sea shortly after departing from Jakarta, killing all 189 people aboard. MALAYSIA Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 departed 'from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, on 17 July 2014 and was shot down over eastern Ukraine during a battle between pro-Russian rebels and Ukrainian forces. All 298 passengers were killed. On March 8, Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 disappeared on its journey from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to Beijing. The Boeing 777 with its 239 passengers and crew has not yet been located.
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Major Gulf bourses edge higher despite U.S.-Iran maritime flare-up
The major Gulf stock markets rose in early Monday trading. Investor sentiment, however, remained cautious after a weekend of maritime strikes between the U.S. and Iran. The U.S. Central Command attacked three Iranian oil tanks, including one close to Iran's important Kharg Island export facility. Iran's Revolutionary Guard Navy responded by announcing that it had targeted "three tankers" who were navigating unofficial routes in the Strait of Hormuz as well as three other U.S. ships in nearby waters. Saudi Arabia's benchmark index rose 0.1% thanks to a 0.4% increase in Al Rajhi Bank. Flynas, a Saudi budget airline, rose 1.3% in value after it agreed to buy a 10% stake in Swissport Saudi Arabia. The deal was worth $13.3 million and included a five-year ground handling contract for the entire country starting in March 2027. Saudi Ground Services Co, however, fell over 5% when flynas announced that it would?terminate the ground handling agreement with effect from March 2027. Yanbu National Petrochemical Co, on the other hand, fell 4.4% as it traded ex-dividend. Dubai's main stock index rose by?0.5% with blue-chip developer Emaar Properties rising 0.7%. In Abu Dhabi the index rose by 0.1%. Anwar Gargash, UAE's presidential adviser, said at the Hili Forum in Abu Dhabi on Monday, that he was concerned about the friction around vital shipping routes, but that energy exports from the country would not be held to ransom. He also warned that it could take years for Iran and other countries to rebuild trust. The Qatari Index rose by 0.3%.
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Japanese sushi chain stops Chiikawa Rollout after Staff Caught Selling Freebies Online
After staff members stole free items to resell online, a Japanese sushi chain had to cancel its popular marketing campaign featuring cute "hamster-like" characters from the hit series "Chiikawa". Conveyor-belt ?chain Kura Sushi launched its Chiikawa campaign on August 21 with plans to distribute a limited number of branded items like pouches and plates on a first-come-first-served basis through the end of September. Customers could also win prizes by exchanging empty sushi plates with a game machine that yielded key chains, magnets, and other trinkets. Hiroyuki KOSAKA, Kura Sushi's spokesperson, said that the Chiikawa giveaways were so popular in its restaurants that they had sold out for the remainder of the month. On Sunday, however, the company ended the campaign abruptly after confirming what many fans suspected: that staff members had stolen goods from the store and sold them on the internet. Kosaka reported that Kura Sushi stores have received a flood of?calls cancelling reservations since then. He said, "We're truly sorry that we caused the inconvenience and disappointed customers." Kura Sushi shares fell 2.5% to 1,696 yen in Tokyo on Monday, compared with a rise of 0.55% for the TOPIX index. The marketing debacle shows how collaborations between corporations and popular franchises can go wrong. McDonald's Japan caused controversy last year after tie-ups between Chiikawa, and Pokemon led many customers to purchase large quantities of Happy Meals in order to receive the free toys, which they then resold, while throwing away the food. CULT LIKE POPULARITY Chiikawa, a truncated form of the Japanese phrase "something small and cute", was created in 2020. It has since risen to a level that is dizzyingly popular, becoming one of Asia's top licensing properties. Chiikawa's characters, despite their cute appearance, live stressful lives. They struggle with exams, worry about salaries and search for day-labor jobs. Fans of all ages have been drawn to the jarring contrast between their cute appearance and their grim situations. According to entertainment news site Mantanweb's report, the first film in the franchise, "Chiikawa : The Secret of the Mermaid Island", grossed $12 billion yen (about $78 million) over the course of a little more than a month in Japan. This has further increased the popularity of the franchise. Chiikawa has 5.4 millions followers on his X account, including the Japanese Finance Minister Satsuki katayama. Kura Sushi's sales increased by 23% in March 2024 when it teamed up for the second time with?Chiikawa. The response from customers was beyond what Kosaka, the spokesperson, had expected. The company declined to elaborate on the investigation. Chiikawa's freebies are now highly collectible and fetch high prices. Mercari, Japan’s largest online second-hand marketplace, listed a four-piece set of Chiikawa and Kura Sushi plates and cups for 13,333 yen (US$85.54), and a three-piece set for 9,500 yen. Kura Sushi reported that it had asked Mercari successfully to remove from its website the collaboration items which were acquired illegitimately.
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TASS reports that North Korea and Russia have opened their first road link, a sign of growing ties.
North Korea and Russia officially opened their 'first road bridge' on Monday. According to the Russian state news agency TASS, this'structure spans a river called Tumen. Both sides hailed it as a milestone in their strategic relationship. The bridge is near the "Friendship Bridge", an existing rail bridge that was built in 1959, after the Korean War. Direct rail and air links already exist between Moscow and Pyongyang. The Russian Prime Minister, Mikhail Mishustin, said that the bridge would spur development in various spheres between the two nations - including tourism and new jobs. Mishustin was quoted by TASS as saying, "I am convinced that 'the expansion of cross border transport infrastructure will provide a strong impetus for further development of the trade, economics, scientific, technical and cultural cooperation," at the bridge's opening ceremony. The construction of the new bridge began in April '18 after it was decided to build during President Vladimir Putin's visit to North Korea in 2024. Since the beginning of the Ukraine war?in 2022, the two countries have developed stronger ties. Pyongyang has sent thousands of troops to Russia's Kursk Region in order to repel an Ukrainian incursion that occurred there in 2024.
Special Report-Why Tesla AI trainers do not trust self-driving technology or safety statistics
In an office in Utah, hundreds of Tesla employees scrutinize the video footage collected by cars using the Full Self-Driving feature (FSD). In some clips, the cars are shown hitting deer or cats. Other clips show more common accidents. They sometimes don't stop before hitting. They speed up a lot. Sometimes, workers witness children playing on the street.
These Tesla staffers, also known as "data labels," train the AI-powered Tesla driver-assistance system. They note incidents of good driving and bad driving, and report problems to engineers who are working to improve the software.
Elon Musk, Tesla's CEO, says that FSD will "soon" make all Teslas autonomous. Interviews with nine former Tesla labelers and an ex-self-driving engineering show that in recent months, the technology has struggled to perform basic maneuvers such as avoiding emergencies or stopping to let school buses load or unload students. (View the article on.com:)
Musk and other executives continue to tout the safety of FSD, despite its dangerous flaws. They have pushed Tesla into staging public demonstrations of the fully automated capability that the CEO has "promised" investors each year for the past decade. Displays include a robotaxi in Austin, Texas that was launched in June last year with human safety monitors inside the cars as well as others who worked remotely.
Four former Tesla employees said that as the events neared, Tesla staffers spent long hours mapping routes, and training software to recognize specific hazards, in order to make self-driving cars appear more capable. Staffers claimed that these labor-intensive safety measures are not feasible to implement on a large scale. These efforts, which were not previously reported, undermine Musk’s claim that Tesla’s self-driving tech will soon work globally, and won't need the laborious mapping of local roads and hazards used by competitors. Musk said Tesla relies on AI and cameras to simplify its approach. This will allow Tesla to expand its robotaxi service with "hyperexponential speed" and give current Tesla owners complete autonomy via software updates.
Musk and other Tesla leaders have reinforced the impression of robocompetence by citing statistics about company safety that, they claim, prove FSD to be up to 10x safer than human driving.
A? A?examen of Tesla's statistical method and interviews with?company?insiders shows Tesla isn't near delivering safely self-driving cars at scale, a promise that underpins the automaker's stock-market valuation of $1.6 trillion. This included an analysis of how Tesla compares their own crash data with federal crash data, a comparison of the more rigorous methodology used by robotaxi rival Waymo and interviews with eleven traffic-safety experts who reviewed Tesla's method. The review identified several invalid data comparisons that were used to support the statistics in Tesla’s FSD safety reports. Ten researchers claimed this was misleading marketing, rather than an investigation into a crucial safety issue.
Tesla, for example, exaggerates safety of the technology by comparing a crash rate in FSD-piloted Teslas which triggered airbag deployments with a federal accident rate for all vehicles, including far less severe accidents. Tesla also compares their cars with the average U.S. car, which is older than the typical Tesla. Researchers said that this results are distorted because automakers all have launched safety features to reduce accidents.
"Any new vehicle is significantly safer than an old car," said Phil Koopman. He's a Carnegie Mellon University professor of engineering and an expert in autonomous vehicles. It's like saying, "My jet plane is faster than your World War II Bomber." Yeah, then what's the point?
Tesla did not respond to the detailed questions for this report. Tesla's CFO Vaibhav Tania first claimed that the robotaxi was 10-times safer in July last year, following Tesla's Austin launch. Robyn Denholm, Tesla Board Chair, repeated the claim at a meeting in November where shareholders approved an incentive package that would grant Musk up to $1 trillion worth of Tesla stock. Musk displayed at the same meeting a chart that claimed "85% fewer crashes" based on the recently revised Tesla method.
Musk said to shareholders that he felt "almost comfortable" allowing drivers to text while driving. In the next few months, we'll be closely examining safety statistics. But we will let you text while driving.
Tesla still hasn't approved texting while driving using FSD six months after it was first announced. The fine print of its FSD site continues to warn that "currently enabled features require active supervisory supervision and do NOT make the vehicle autonomic." Tesla has often cited this disclaimer when sued for serious accidents.
FSD has been widely recognized as a technology capable of handling a wide range of driving situations and can do so for extended periods. Full autonomy is still elusive to Tesla and other car companies because it requires flawless technology execution, even in the most complicated driving situations.
Seven former data labelers said they would not trust FSD to drive them. One said, "We've all seen it fail." One man said that he would not ride in a Tesla Robotaxi "if you paid me." Another self-driving expert, who has studied Tesla crash data over the years, called Tesla's safety claims "bullshit."
The engineer replied, "I don't think you can trust Elon with this."
'TRAUMA TEAM REVIEWS NEAR MISSES
Tesla's data labels get an up-close look at FSD capabilities by reviewing footage from eight exterior cameras equipped vehicles.
Former employees said that FSD failed to perform basic tasks such as stopping for emergency vehicles or giving motorcycles enough room. They saw FSD vehicles failing to brake at freeway exit ramps. One Tesla even hit a concrete barrier. The footage, according to them, did not show if anyone was injured. Two employees claimed that clips showed FSD not avoiding construction zones. One of these incidents involved a Tesla driving into the construction zone and nearly hitting workers, according to one person.
This account is based on the descriptions provided by former staffers of the footage they saw.
Managers at Tesla carefully control access to videos. Employees only watch the clips that they are assigned. They may or may be able to see FSD's biggest failures.
Three employees reported that one data-labeling group focused on pedestrians who were close to being hit. One source claimed that the employees were known informally as "the trauma team" and worked in Palo Alto in California with special access to the footage. The trauma-team footage was closely guarded by engineers, but sometimes, some footage "slipped through" to the other teams, according to the source.
Both the person and an employee claimed to have seen clips of drivers taking control manually at the last moment when FSD failed recognize pedestrians at crosswalks. Two former employees remembered seeing videos of FSD-piloted Teslas almost hitting children last year.
Tesla has faced federal investigations, lawsuits, and other legal proceedings for many years involving fatal crashes that were blamed by drivers or regulators on the failure of FSD, or its older Autopilot system. In 2021, the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration opened an investigation on Autopilot after a number of accidents involving Teslas hitting emergency vehicles. In 2023, the investigation led to a recall where Tesla installed software updates to detect when drivers are not paying attention.
NHTSA is currently conducting four investigations on FSD and Autopilot. One of these involves dozens cases in which vehicles using FSD did not stop at red lights or turned towards traffic. A second investigation examines whether Tesla's Autopilot upgrades for 2023 were adequate to solve the safety issues. The agency is investigating nine FSD incidents, including one fatal crash where the system failed due to reduced visibility, such as in fog or sun glare. Tesla was awarded $243 million last year after an Autopiloted Tesla crash in Florida killed a woman aged 22 and seriously injured her boyfriend. Tesla has appealed. The company settled similar cases without disclosing the terms in several other similar cases.
NHTSA did not respond to a question from NHTSA about the safety of FSDs and Tesla's method when asked by NHTSA. The agency referred any questions regarding Tesla's safety claims over to the U.S. Federal Trade Commission.
The FTC refused to comment on Tesla’s safety statistics. Consumer advocacy groups and U.S. Senators have asked the FTC to look into Tesla's marketing for Autopilot and FSD.
Tesla has not been subjected to any enforcement action by the FTC.
STATS INFLATED ON TESLA'S FSD SAFETY
Tesla's CEO and board boosted their claims of safety as employees watched the videos. Tesla's leaders promoted this 10-times safer claim for much of the last year.
Tesla CFO Taneja stated in a call to discuss earnings that "a car with FSD will be 10x safer". "Even with $99 per month, you get a personal driver for less than $3.33 per day."
Tesla's method is flawed because of a comparison error. This led to a three-fold increase in the claimed level of safety. The automaker compared data from all crashes involving a tow truck with the number of Tesla crashes that had airbags deployed. This was a much less strict criterion. Tow truck crashes are often not severe enough to activate airbags.
Tesla used a flawed methodology, even though the federal data that it used included crashes in which airbags were deployed. The flawed methodology led to the conclusion that Teslas with FSD or Autopilot traveled 10 times further between crashes than an average human driver.
According to Marco Benedetti's analysis, a former NHTSA statistician and assistant research scientist from the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute, Teslas with driver-assistance systems are three times more likely to travel between crashes in which airbags were deployed. Two other traffic safety researchers confirmed Benedetti’s calculations.
Benedetti explained that Tesla's method is flawed in several ways, and this does not mean FSD makes a driver three times more safe than an average driver.
Tesla changed its approach to only include data from vehicles that use FSD in November and excluded those using Autopilot. Tesla claimed more miles between crashes by including Autopilot because it is a less complex system that's designed for highways, where cars travel fewer miles and crash less often than in urban areas. On its website, the company continues to cite the flawed airbag crash comparison to claim that FSD is 7 times safer than an average driver. This amounts to 85% in percentage terms.
The findings of a study cast doubts on the safety of FSD.
When comparing its crash rates to those of the nation, the automaker does not take into account the age of the vehicle. Tesla compares the average age of its cars, which is just 4.1, with that of all U.S. vehicles which averages 12.8. Ten safety researchers said that this skews results because most automakers are now offering revolutionary safety features across their entire lineup, such as blind-spot detection and automatic emergency brakes.
Tesla reduces the number of crashes by counting only those that occur with FSD on or within 5 seconds after it is turned off. The U.S. Government, on the other hand, requires automakers report crashes that occur within 30 seconds after an advanced driver assistance system is deactivated.
Tesla claims FSD can save over 32,000 lives each year and prevent 1.9 million injuries. Researchers in traffic safety have called these figures meaningless, because they assume that all U.S. vehicles, including trucks and motorcycles that are crash-prone, will be replaced with Tesla cars that support FSD, and that each Tesla is at least seven-times safer than its predecessor.
The More?Rigorous Approach of WAYMO
Ten traffic safety researchers have said that the premise behind Tesla's statistics on safety is flawed as well, because FSD isn’t a true autonomous system. Tesla's executives are wrong when they claim that the company is comparing its technology with human drivers. Tesla isn't comparing its technology to human drivers, as executives claim. Instead, it compares the average driver with another human who drives a Tesla and uses FSD. Tesla fails to take into account that these drivers are able to turn FSD off and on. Research shows that motorists avoid advanced driver-assistance technologies in traffic situations with high levels of complexity, as they feel unsafe. Tesla's data indicates that FSD is mostly used on highways.
Alphabet Waymo compares its driverless robotaxis in 11 U.S. metro areas to similar human-driven cars.
Waymo adopts a more rigorous strategy than Tesla. It examines crash data from the markets in which it operates, and adjusts for the type of roads and neighborhoods that its robotaxis travel. Waymo looks at specific crash rates, such as airbag deployments and serious injuries. This is for both human-driven cars and Waymo's cars.
John Scanlon is a Waymo researcher who specializes in safety. "You have to be very specific with your research questions and conclusions."
Waymo, meanwhile, points out flaws in its data as well as collaborating with external researchers to publish its safety statistics in peer reviewed journals. Tesla, on the other hand, does not seek peer review, and only publishes top-line statistics about safety, while keeping Tesla's crash data secret.
VIDEOS OF TESLAS STRIVING DOGS, CATS AND DEAR
Data labelers at Tesla get a raw look at FSD safety. Three former Tesla employees have described videos of Teslas hitting animals at high speed without braking.
Five former employees stated that specific teams were focused on FSD’s difficulties recognizing school busses. The Dawn Project, a technology safety group, raised this concern by airing ads at the Super Bowls of 2023 and 2024 showing Teslas with FSD enabled failing to stop for school buses with flashing lights and stop signs.
Two former Tesla employees have said that they saw videos similar to those in Tesla.
Five former data labelers have described a chaotic, hurried work environment, where priorities were constantly changing based on Musk's and FSD's engineers' directives. They said that the data-labeling department was plagued by a high turnover rate due to monotonous work and low pay.
Four former employees claim that Tesla's higher-ups would often launch new projects as a reaction to news stories or social media posts that showed FSD making mistakes. One project was to fix the problem of sunlight obscuring exterior cameras on cars. A social media video showed how the light reflected off a watch of a passenger blinded a camera, shutting FSD down. A second effort was made at railroad crossings after news reports that Teslas with FSD failed to stop there.
Five of the employees also said that FSD clips regularly showed speeding. Engineers and other people higher up in the chain treated this as a problem with low priority.
After the automaker launched a "Mad Max mode" that allows for more aggressive driving, one employee reported labelers regularly seeing Teslas exceeding speed limits of 20-30 miles per hour. One labeler said he saw a vehicle driven by FSD traveling at 60 mph within a 25 mph zone.
TESLA PUBLIC ROBOTAXI DISPLAYS: BEHIND THE CURTAIN
Musk announced Tesla's self driving capabilities in October 2024, as Tesla employees struggled with FSD training. The robotaxi was unveiled at Warner Bros. Studios near Los Angeles. Musk showed off about 20 two-door prototypes of his "Cybercab" which had no pedals or steering wheel, to the invite-only audience.
He said, "The cars just pass by without any people."
Musk said Tesla's software was designed to navigate unfamiliar landscapes and work anywhere. Two former data-labeling workers claim that for the weeks leading up to the Cybercab launch, the staff collected video footage of the route the cars would take at the event. The employees claimed that labelers spent hundreds hours on video annotating road markings and curbs to avoid embarrassing incidents.
Musk has dismissed this approach as being too expensive and slow. Musk called Waymo's'very localized solutions' "quite fragile" in 2024.
Musk announced on a call for earnings in January 2025 that Tesla will launch robotaxis in Austin in June 2025, after the Warner Bros. presentation. He hailed the technology as "a generalized AI solution," which didn't need "high precision maps of a specific location."
Tesla filmed stop lights, road signage and other features for months prior to the Austin launch. Two employees who have direct knowledge of this matter say that data labelers marked up the video to make sure the software was capable of handling challenging scenarios. These included passenger pickups and responding to emergency vehicles.
Three employees claimed that the Utah data-labeling team doubled in the half-year prior to the Austin launch, from about 100 workers to 300. They said that the department worked on a variety of projects in order to ensure that the Austin test went smoothly.
Two employees reported that the software was still unreliable as Tesla data labelers were preparing for the "rollout". Some driving behaviors improved with each FSD upgrade. Some driving behaviors improved with each FSD update. Two large screens in the Utah office displayed statistics on FSD, a key safety metric for autonomous driving.
Former employees stated that the company's performance was "like the stock market", with no consistency in improvement.
Two sets of human safety monitors are available for the vehicles to hit the road: one in the front passenger's seat and another watching remotely. Labelers in Utah could watch videos to see when remote monitors were taking control of the vehicles. Former employee stated that the Austin routes were created for a small area to allow the software of the cars to be extensively trained on specific maneuvers in particular streets.
The person who said this described it as "OK, we taught a car" how to operate within a restricted area. "You can't be creative outside of this."
Four sources stated that scaling up in a safe manner could take many years. Musk said in July that the robotaxi service would be expanded to cover half of the U.S. by 2025, just a month after its launch in Austin. Musk claimed falsely in January that Tesla operated 500 “robotaxi vehicles” in Austin and San Francisco Bay Area. He added that he expected this to "double each month" along an "exponential" curve.
According to a recent presentation by officials, Tesla operates less than 50 robotaxis in Austin, despite the launch of the service nearly a full year ago. Three sources confirmed that the vehicles travel within a carefully-mapped and limited zone. According to recent observations made by a journalist, some vehicles still have human safety monitors on the front passenger's seat.
Tesla announced in April that it would be launching robotaxis throughout Dallas and Houston. It also provided maps of the areas covered. Reporters who tested the service recently in both cities reported long wait times and inconsistent availability. When a reporter was able to get a ride three times in Dallas, the robotaxi would not drop him off at his destination downtown within Tesla's service area.
Every time it took him 15 minutes to walk. (By Chris Kirkham, Los Angeles; and Rachael LEVY, Washington. Sheila Dang, Norihiko Schirouzu, and Benjamin Lesser contributed additional reporting. Brian Thevenot, David Crawshaw and Brian Thevenot edited the story.
(source: Reuters)