Tesla Motors Inc's (TSLA.O)
shares were down less than 1 percent in early trading on Friday, with at least
one analyst saying that initial reaction to the first fatality involving its
Autopilot system was based more on perception than reality.
The incident, in which a man
driving a Tesla Model S was killed in a collision with a truck in Florida, has
prompted an investigation by federal highway safety regulators, the U.S.
government and Tesla said on Thursday.
Tesla said in a blog post
that the crash was the first in the more than 130 million miles that the
semi-autonomous driving system has been used. That compares with a fatality
every 94 million miles for all vehicles in the United States, it said.
The company also said that
customers were required to give "explicit acknowledgement" that they
realize Autopilot is new technology still under development, otherwise the
system will remain off. Drivers are also told that they are required to keep
their hands on the wheel at all times.
RBC Capital Markets analyst
Joseph Spak said the incident presented more of a "headline risk"
than real risk to Tesla.
"The bottom line is
that no autonomous vehicle will ever be perfect, to say nothing of
semi-autonomous or TSLA's Autopilot (which we would classify as low level
semi-autonomous). The idea of autonomous is that it’s safer than a human
driver."
"Bottom line, the media
attention may weigh (the first major incident was always a headline risk), but
we don't think much has changed," he said in a client note.
The National Highway Traffic
Safety Administration said it was investigating 25,000 Model S sedans equipped
with the Autopilot system.
Tesla's stock fell as much
as 3 percent in after-hours trading on Thursday following the news of the
accident and investigation. Up to Thursday's close of $212.28, Tesla's shares
had fallen about 12 percent this year.
Credit:Reuters
No comments:
Post a Comment