Tesla Model Y, equipped with FSD system. Three front facing cameras under windshield near rear view mirror.
Mark Leong | The Washington Post | Getty Images
Tesla drivers in the U.S. were involved in accidents at a higher rate than drivers of any other brand of vehicle over the past year, according to a new study of 30 automotive brands by LendingTree.
The researchers analyzed quotes from people looking to insure their own vehicles, and did not include accident or incident data involving drivers of rental cars, a spokesperson for LendingTree told CNBC by email on Tuesday.
The study said, “It’s hard to nail down why certain brands may have higher accident rates than others. However, there are indications that certain types of vehicles attract riskier drivers than others.”
With 24 accidents per 1,000 drivers during the period from mid-November 2022 to mid-November 2023, Tesla drivers clocked in with the worst accident rate in the U.S., followed by Ram drivers who were involved in about 23 accidents, and Subaru drivers who were involved in about 21 accidents per 1,000 drivers during the year.
By contrast, drivers of Pontiac, Mercury and Saturn vehicles were all involved in fewer than 10 accidents per 1,000 drivers during the period of the study.
BMW drivers were the most likely to engage in driving under the influence, the researchers found. They were involved in about 3 DUIs per 1,000 drivers in a year, about twice the rate of DUIs among Ram drivers, who were the second worst drivers in this regard.
For driving incidents overall, which included not only accidents but also DUIs, speeding, and other citations, Ram drivers had the highest incident rate, while Tesla drivers had the second-highest incident rate in the U.S.
Accidents, DUIs, speeding and other citations can all lead to higher insurance rates for drivers. Lending Tree found that one speeding ticket can bump up the price of vehicle insurance by 10% to 20%, accidents can increase rates by around 40%, while DUIs can lead to a rate increase of 60% or more.
The Lending Tree findings about drivers with the highest rates of accidents and incidents by vehicle brand followed an Autopilot software recall by Tesla in the U.S. that impacts some 2 million of the company’s electric vehicles.
Tesla EVs come standard with an advanced driver assistance system (ADAS) marketed as Autopilot. The company sells more extensive driver assistance packages called Enhanced Autopilot and Full Self-Driving (or FSD) options in the U.S. as well. Those who pay for FSD can also test software features that are not fully debugged yet on public roads.
Tesla’s ADAS technology is meant to help drivers with steering, acceleration and braking. CEO Elon Musk claimed in 2021 that a Tesla driver using Autopilot was about 10 times less likely to crash than a driver of the average car. While Tesla publishes its own safety reports, the company has not allowed third-party researchers to evaluate their data to confirm or debunk such claims.
Musk has also touted Tesla’s systems as if they are already, or will soon be, safe to use hands-free — yet Autopilot and Full Self-Driving systems still require Tesla drivers to remain attentive to the road and ready to steer or brake in response at all times.
A two-year investigation by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (or NHTSA) found that Tesla’s Autosteer feature, which is part of Autopilot and FSD, had safety defects that may cause an “increased risk of a collision.” NHTSA said it found that Tesla drivers can too easily misuse the cars’ Autosteer feature and may not even know whether it is engaged or switched off.
According to filings with the federal vehicle safety regulator, Tesla did not concur with NHTSA’s findings but agreed to conduct a voluntary software recall, and promised to make safety improvements to Autosteer with “over-the-air” updates. The updated software will nag drivers to pay attention to the road more often, and lock drivers out of using Autopilot if Tesla’s systems detect irresponsible use.
Tesla did not respond to a request for comment about the Lending Tree study and why the accident and incident rates may have been so high among Tesla drivers in the U.S. over the past year.
Read the full Lending Tree study of the best and worst drivers in the U.S. by auto brand, here.
Paxton sued Google in 2022 for allegedly unlawfully tracking and collecting the private data of users.
The attorney general said the settlement, which covers allegations in two separate lawsuits against the search engine and app giant, dwarfed all past settlements by other states with Google for similar data privacy violations.
Google’s settlement comes nearly 10 months after Paxton obtained a $1.4 billion settlement for Texas from Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, to resolve claims of unauthorized use of biometric data by users of those popular social media platforms.
“In Texas, Big Tech is not above the law,” Paxton said in a statement on Friday.
“For years, Google secretly tracked people’s movements, private searches, and even their voiceprints and facial geometry through their products and services. I fought back and won,” said Paxton.
“This $1.375 billion settlement is a major win for Texans’ privacy and tells companies that they will pay for abusing our trust.”
Google spokesman Jose Castaneda said the company did not admit any wrongdoing or liability in the settlement, which involves allegations related to the Chrome browser’s incognito setting, disclosures related to location history on the Google Maps app, and biometric claims related to Google Photo.
Castaneda said Google does not have to make any changes to products in connection with the settlement and that all of the policy changes that the company made in connection with the allegations were previously announced or implemented.
“This settles a raft of old claims, many of which have already been resolved elsewhere, concerning product policies we have long since changed,” Castaneda said.
“We are pleased to put them behind us, and we will continue to build robust privacy controls into our services.”
Virtual care company Omada Health filed for an IPO on Friday, the latest digital health company that’s signaled its intent to hit the public markets despite a turbulent economy.
Founded in 2012, Omada offers virtual care programs to support patients with chronic conditions like prediabetes, diabetes and hypertension. The company describes its approach as a “between-visit care model” that is complementary to the broader health-care ecosystem, according to its prospectus.
Revenue increased 57% in the first quarter to $55 million, up from $35.1 million during the same period last year, the filing said. The San Francisco-based company generated $169.8 million in revenue during 2024, up 38% from $122.8 million the previous year.
Omada’s net loss narrowed to $9.4 million during its first quarter from $19 million during the same period last year. It reported a net loss of $47.1 million in 2024, compared to a $67.5 million net loss during 2023.
The IPO market has been largely dormant across the tech sector for the past three years, and within digital health, it’s been almost completely dead. After President Donald Trump announced a sweeping tariff policy that plunged U.S. markets into turmoil last month, taking a company public is an even riskier endeavor. Online lender Klarna delayed its long-anticipated IPO, as did ticket marketplace StubHub.
But Omada Health isn’t the first digital health company to file for its public market debut this year. Virtual physical therapy startup Hinge Health filed its prospectus in March, and provided an update with its first-quarter earnings on Monday, a signal to investors that it’s looking to forge ahead.
Omada contracts with employers, and the company said it works with more than 2,000 customers and supports 679,000 members as of March 31. More than 156 million Americans suffer from at least one chronic condition, so there is a significant market opportunity, according to the company’s filing.
In 2022, Omada announced a $192 million funding round that pushed its valuation above $1 billion. U.S. Venture Partners, Andreessen Horowitz and Fidelity’s FMR LLC are the largest outside shareholders in the company, each owning between 9% and 10% of the stock.
“To our prospective shareholders, thank you for learning more about Omada. I invite you join our journey,” Omada co-founder and CEO Sean Duffy said in the filing. “In front of us is a unique chance to build a promising and successful business while truly changing lives.”
Liz Reid, vice president, search, Google speaks during an event in New Delhi on December 19, 2022.
Sajjad Hussain | AFP | Getty Images
Testimony in Google‘s antitrust search remedies trial that wrapped hearings Friday shows how the company is calculating possible changes proposed by the Department of Justice.
Google head of search Liz Reid testified in court Tuesday that the company would need to divert between 1,000 and 2,000 employees, roughly 20% of Google’s search organization, to carry out some of the proposed remedies, a source with knowledge of the proceedings confirmed.
The testimony comes during the final days of the remedies trial, which will determine what penalties should be taken against Google after a judge last year ruled the company has held an illegal monopoly in its core market of internet search.
The DOJ, which filed the original antitrust suit and proposed remedies, asked the judge to force Google to share its data used for generating search results, such as click data. It also asked for the company to remove the use of “compelled syndication,” which refers to the practice of making certain deals with companies to ensure its search engine remains the default choice in browsers and smartphones.
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The DOJ also proposed the company divest its Chrome browser but that was not included in Reid’s initial calculation, the source confirmed.
Reid on Tuesday said Google’s proprietary “Knowledge Graph” database, which it uses to surface search results, contains more than 500 billion facts, according to the source, and that Google has invested more than $20 billion in engineering costs and content acquisition over more than a decade.
“People ask Google questions they wouldn’t ask anyone else,” she said, according to the source.
Reid echoed Google’s argument that sharing its data would create privacy risks, the source confirmed.
Closing arguments for the search remedies trial will take place May 29th and 30th, followed by the judge’s decision expected in August.
The company faces a separate remedies trial for its advertising tech business, which is scheduled to begin Sept. 22.