The NHTSA report says that on average, an attentive driver would have been able to react 8 seconds before the crash. 8 seconds is a lot of time on the highway (where autopilot can be used).
Yet the autopilot system chose to only warn the drivers 1 second before impact, which is basically no time at all to react to anything.
So if those 8 seconds of "autopilot ain't too sure" actually exist, then the car needs to signal that to the driver so the driver can be ready to take over.
The fact it still doesn't do that, speaks volumes about the kind of "progress" Tesla seems to be making, none of it good.
The crashes were not of a kind that Autopilot could have detected earlier. Several involved stationary objects, that Autopilot seems to intentionally ignore because it can't tell apart what's actually in the way of the car from harmless features of the surroundings that will never cause a collision. Which just goes to prove: Autopilot = glorified cruise control. You must never expect it to keep you safe.
