"Nissan, with over 560,000 vehicles on the road using its ”ProPilot Assist,” didn’t have to report any crashes, the company said."
I find this highly suspect especially if adaptive cruise control accidents count as well.
Not sure about the current version, but Nissan's ADAS from a few years back was just awful. Having driven with it, it is in many cases worse than not having any assist at all, wandering back and forth in the lane, turning off suddenly and without warning as you approach random intersections and off-ramps, (resulting in unexpected steering changes), etc. I'm assuming newer versions are better, but remember that unlike Tesla, those systems aren't getting over-the-air firmware updates, so the older ones are out there on the roads being actively dangerous, and will be until the last one of them gets sold for scrap metal. I have a very hard time believing that those have fewer crashes than AutoPilot... unless they aren't being reported because of a loophole.
Not giving the NHTSA nearly enough credit, these are people who specifically work in Auto safety and who surely know more about the relevant metrics than us observers who don’t work full time jobs in this very specialized sector
These are people who likely came from major automakers, as part of a revolving door between industry and regulation. That means they're motivated to find problems with Tesla, and a lot of them likely hold a grudge against Tesla for leaving their prior employers in the dust.
Cumulative miles travelled with the system
engaged is one of many figures requested last year by the NHTSA, you can find an exhaustive list by reading through their data request template
Cumulative miles driven with the system active is inherently misleading unless you're comparing very similar systems. The other ADAS systems I've used so far are limited to specific roads. Tesla's system, although being not intended for use on other roads, will provide lane keeping on city streets and minor highways, usually without much trouble, so long as it has at least something resembling reflector dots or lane lines on the left side. Thus, comparing crash counts per mile will lead to wildly misleading statistics that make Tesla appear worse than their competitors, while actually just being an indicator of how radically different the usage is. Those differences may or may not be reflected in covered miles.
The only fair comparison is crashes per million miles driven, without regard to whether the ADAS system is active. That approach eliminates any bias caused by some systems being able to ease the burden of city-street driving, where accidents are disproportionately high, and other systems refusing to do so. It also means that if driving with automation makes you less capable of driving safely when automation is unavailable, that will negatively impact the ADAS's score.