[grumple]

Those statistics are pretty relevant when it comes to fatalities, which are more likely to occur at highway speeds. Total accidents, yes, self driving cars aren't generally operating in city traffic yet. Those same resources will note that the most common accident for Teslas is being rear-ended by another vehicle, which is also relevant.

Let's not lose sight of the fact that this technology is under active development, with a theoretical target being eliminating the vast majority of car-related deaths. Nobody is arguing that it's already superior, though it may already be close in certain circumstances.

[bumby]

That’s the thing though. Those statistics aren’t showing that level of rigor. They aren’t even saying “miles driven at highway speeds”, just “miles with autopilot engaged”.

They don’t control for things like vehicle age. They don’t control for safety features, or even for driver assisting software control. They aren’t comparing driving conditions. They aren’t comparing driving duration. There aren’t comparing driving speed. They aren’t even from the same datasets. Etc etc.

It’s not a rigorous study but used as if it’s evidence when it’s only slightly better than anecdotal