You can't make that kind of conclusion from a single, extremely-highly-publicized occurrence, even a fatal one. Given how often human drivers kill people, you need statistics to show that autopilot is worse.
I'm going to need statistics from an independent source, not from Tesla, that autopilot is safer.
I'm not inclined to trust Tesla's statistics given how cavalier they have been about putting their shoddy autopilot product on the road and marketing it as being better than it actually is.
A 40% reduction still means plenty of anecdotes for media fodder.
There may come a time when autonomous vehicles make driving so safe that the only data we can and should rely on is the rare anecdote like this and the subsequent NTSB report, like airlines. But while it’s always good to take seriously the lessons that NTSB’s targeted investigations provide, a lot more people will die tragic but less-publicized deaths if we stop any company from deploying an imperfect but still overall beneficial technology.
