Tesla is seemingly at a low lately after another of its cars on Autopilot met with an accident in Pennsylvania last Friday. And that’s not all. Multinational investment bank and financial services company Goldman Sachs is adding to the list of other firms recently downgrading Tesla stock. Keep on reading for the news roundup.
Another Tesla on Autopilot crashes in Pennsylvania
Tesla’s Autopilot is one of the most promising features of its vehicles. However, after hearing about accidents associated with this feature, it appears it is not serving the drivers well.
“Autopilot is an advanced driver assistance system that enhances safety and convenience behind the wheel. When used properly, Autopilot reduces your overall workload as a driver. Each new Tesla vehicle is equipped with eight external cameras and powerful vision processing to provide an additional layer of safety,” Tesla explains the Autopilot feature on its official website.
Is this feature really about safety?
A Tesla car operating on its Autopilot software crashed into a stationary truck in Pennsylvania on Friday night, the local police said, adding to the long list of accidents in which Tesla cars on Autopilot were involved.
According to the Pennsylvania State Police yesterday, the Tesla car was traveling in the middle lane when it hit the rear end of a Freightliner semi-truck parked in that lane to provide traffic control from the closure of the right lane.
Ironically, the police stated that the Tesla vehicle lost control because of being on Autopilot. Its 18-year-old driver has already been charged with “careless driving.”
The local police said there were no injuries.
Long list of accidents involving Tesla cars on Autopilot
Interestingly, this is not the isolated incident that involved a Tesla car on Autopilot in an accident.
Based on a Washington Post analysis of National Highway Traffic Safety Administration data, there have already been more than 700 crashes in the United States that involve Teslas on Autopilot.
Furthermore, the data added that the number of these accidents, as well as deaths and serious injuries associated with Tesla’s Autopilot, has grown significantly.
When authorities released a partial accounting of accidents involving these cars on Autopilot last June 2022, they recorded only three deaths. But recently, the numbers have grown to at least 17 fatal incidents and five serious injuries.
Is driving a Tesla car really safe?
Tesla stock downgrades
What you read about above is not just the unfortunate events facing Tesla recently. In other “unfortunate” Tesla news, despite the company’s record-breaking deliveries, Goldman Sachs has joined other firms that downgraded Tesla stock.
Last week, other analysts from Morgan Stanley and Barclays cut Elon Musk’s company stock to equal weight.
What could be the reason?
Mark Delaney, the Goldman Sachs analyst who downgraded Tesla stock to a neutral from its previous buy rating, said the chief reason for the downgrade is that the “market is now giving the stock more credit for its longer-term opportunities.”
“We believe the stock now better reflects our positive long-term view of the company’s growth potential and competitive positioning,” Delaney said.
