Analysis & Deep Dives
Data journalism and investigative analysis of autonomous vehicle safety. Every article uses real numbers from the NHTSA incident database.
Geographic Risk: Your City's AV Safety Score
Not all cities are equal for autonomous vehicle safety. San Francisco has 1,170 incidents while most cities have zero. See the full geographic risk breakdown.
The Cost of AV Crashes: An Insurance Perspective
68 fatalities, 3,096 injuries, 3,051 property-damage incidents — estimated total cost: $195 million. The economic toll of autonomous vehicle crashes.
Where Do AV Crashes Happen? A Roadway Analysis
Streets, highways, intersections, parking lots — we break down 6,215 AV/ADAS crashes by roadway type to find where automated driving fails most often.
Tesla's 3,092-Incident Problem: The Autopilot Crash Record
Tesla accounts for nearly half of all reported AV/ADAS incidents. We break down every number — by model, severity, and trend.
Cruise: From $10 Billion Bet to Total Shutdown
GM's Cruise racked up 155 incidents and then abruptly ceased operations. Here's the full timeline of what went wrong.
California's AV Testing Empire: 2,739 Incidents and Counting
California accounts for 44% of all AV incidents — 1,592 ADS and 1,147 ADAS. San Francisco alone has 1,170 crashes.
AV Crash Trends 2021–2026: The Numbers Are Going Up
From 90 incidents in 2021 to 593 in 2025 — AV crashes are rising every year. Here's the full trend analysis.
Pedestrian Safety and Autonomous Vehicles: The Data We Have
From Uber's fatal Tempe crash to today's 6,215 incidents — what does the data say about pedestrians and AVs?
Night vs Day: When Do Self-Driving Cars Crash Most?
Peak hour: 4 PM with 343 incidents. Quietest: 4 AM. The time-of-day data reveals when autonomous systems are most stressed.
Rain, Snow, and Fog: How Weather Affects AV Safety
3,550 incidents in clear weather vs 432 in rain and just 19 in snow. The counterintuitive truth about weather and autonomous vehicle crashes.
The Speed Factor: Pre-Crash Speed Distribution in AV Incidents
1,756 incidents at 0–25 mph, 613 at 66+ mph. Low-speed crashes dominate but high-speed ones kill. Average: 36 mph.
Beyond Tesla: The 59 Other Companies Reporting AV Crashes
Waymo has 1,729 incidents. GM has 265. Cruise 155. Meet the other companies in NHTSA's autonomous vehicle database.
Speed vs Safety: At What Speed Do AV Crashes Kill?
41% of AV crashes happen under 25 mph, but fatality rates spike above 45 mph. We analyze 6,215 crashes by speed bracket to find the danger zones.
What Crash Reports Actually Say: A Text Analysis
We text-mined 4,218 NHTSA crash narratives to find the most common AV failure patterns. Lane keeping failures lead at 27%, followed by object detection at 23%.
The Acceleration Problem: Are AV Crashes Getting Worse?
593 AV crashes in 2025, up 51% from 2024. But fleet size grew 45%. Is the crash rate actually increasing? We normalize the numbers.
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