Tesla has been able to dominate the conversation around both electric and autonomous vehicles, for good and bad reasons. In terms of its Autopilot driver assistance system, which is somewhat deceptively named, the general consensus is that Tesla is leading the auto industry in the technology. A new comprehensive evaluation begs to differ.
On Wednesday, Consumer Reports released its findings from a wide-ranging test of 17 different vehicles with active driving assistance systems (ADAS). The result? Tesla Autopilot is “now a distant second” to Super Cruise from General Motors.
The test follows one the nonprofit conducted in 2018 in which they compared vehicles from just four automakers, including Cadillac (a GM brand), Nissan/Infiniti, Tesla and Volvo. This new report features ADAS from Porsche, BMW, Ford, Volkswagen and others — and being able to compare the 2018 test to today gave Consumer Reports more incisive insight.
“Even after two years, Cadillac’s Super Cruise remained our top-rated system because, when turned on, it uses direct driver monitoring to warn drivers that appear to have stopped paying attention to the road. General Motors told CR that Super Cruise will be on 22 GM vehicles by 2023,” Consumer Reports explained. “Of the other systems we tested, we saw minor improvements in lane keeping performance for the Tesla and Volvo.”
The testing organization is clear to note that these are driver assistance features and not “self-driving” vehicles. While Tesla released a beta version of its self-driving functionality last week, Consumer Reports did not include that in this test, though they do have thoughts on it.
Consumer Reports goes into great detail about its scoring system, which included categories like “capability and performance” and “unresponsive driver,” which you can read in full here.
The final score, however, put the Cadillac Super Cruise from GM in first with 69 points out of 100, Tesla Autopilot in second with 57 points, and Ford Co-Pilot 360 in third with 52.
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