Over 90% of the 5,000 Tesla Model 3 owners surveyed by Bloomberg said they believe Tesla's most controversial feature makes them safer

Hollis Johnson/Business Insider

A Tesla Model 3.

• Over 90% of 5,000 Tesla Model 3 owners surveyed by Bloomberg said they believe Tesla's semi-autonomous Autopilot feature makes them safer.
• Respondents gave Autopilot a score of 4.43 points out of 5, with 61% of them saying they were "very satisfied" with how safe it is, compared to the 1% who were either "somewhat" or "very dissatisfied" with Autopilot's safety.
• Twenty-eight percent of respondents said Autopilot had saved them from a dangerous situation, while 13% said the feature had put them in one.
• Autopilot has attracted controversy for its role in a handful of high-profile, and sometimes fatal, crashes, but Tesla has argued that, overall, Autopilot makes drivers safer.
• Bloomberg's survey is perhaps the most persuasive evidence that supports Tesla's position.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Over 90% of the 5,000 Tesla Model 3 owners surveyed by Bloomberg said they believe Tesla's semi-autonomous Autopilot feature makes them safer.

Participants in Bloomberg's survey gave the feature a score of 4.43 points out of 5, with 61% of them saying they were "very satisfied" with how safe it is, compared to the 1% who were either "somewhat" or "very dissatisfied" with Autopilot's safety. Autopilot's more advanced features, like the ability to make lane changes and move between highways, received lower scores.

Twenty-eight percent of respondents said Autopilot had saved them from a dangerous situation, while 13% said the feature had put them in one.

Respondents also weighed in on "Smart Summon," a new feature that allows a vehicle to drive to its owner in a parking lot. Seventy percent said the feature was useful, and 75% said it was good at navigation, though just 41% of respondents said Smart Summon's reliability was sufficient for the average driver.

Tesla did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment on the survey.

Autopilot has attracted controversy for its role in a handful of high-profile, and sometimes fatal, crashes. While Tesla says drivers must keep their hands on the wheel and pay attention to the road while using the feature - which can control steering, braking, and acceleration in some situations - critics have said that it is difficult for the human brain to remain attentive when a computer has some control over driving tasks.

Tesla has argued that, overall, Autopilot makes drivers safer, pointing to data that shows a lower rate of crashes in Tesla vehicles using Autopilot than in all vehicles in the US. But that data doesn't account for the fact that Autopilot is designed for use only on the highway, which could by itself lead to a lower number of accidents. Bloomberg's survey is perhaps the most persuasive evidence that supports Tesla's position.

Consumer Reports has been more critical of Autopilot, giving largely unfavorable reviews to its lane-change feature and Smart Summon.

Read Bloomberg's full survey here.

Are you a current or former Tesla employee? Do you have an opinion about what it's like to work there? Contact this reporter at mmatousek@businessinsider.com. You can ask for more secure methods of communication, like Signal or ProtonMail, by email or Twitter direct message.

• Read more:
• I drove the Tesla Model 3 for 2 days and used its most controversial feature - here's why it made me nervous
• Google's self-driving car project stopped working on a system similar to Tesla's Autopilot and Cadillac's Super Cruise in 2013 because one of its employees fell asleep at the wheel
• An MIT study found that Tesla Autopilot users were better than expected at taking over before potentially dangerous situations
• Elon Musk's 'reckless' comment about the capabilities of Tesla's Autopilot could put drivers at risk, an analyst says

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