According to local officials, a Tesla Inc. electric car that appeared to be driven by “no one” crashed late Saturday in Texas, erupting in flames and killing the two passengers.
One victim was discovered in the front passenger seat of a 2019 Tesla Model S, while the other was discovered in the back, Constable Mark Herman of Harris County Precinct 4 said in a telephone interview. The car collided with a tree north of Houston after driving at a high rate of speed and missing a right.
According to Herman, the victims’ positions, comments, and other physical evidence indicate that “no one was driving the car at the time of impact.” “It is also being investigated.”
Herman said that his office is in contact with federal agencies, but did not specify which ones, and that he was unaware of whether the Autopilot function was enabled. Extinguishing the fire, which burned for four hours, required more than 30,000 gallons (113,562 liters) of water, he added.
Tesla did not respond immediately to a request for comment. As of 9:43 a.m. in New York, the company’s shares were down 4.4 percent to $707.34.
Federal officials have chastised Tesla for fire risks associated with its battery packs and for failing to do enough to prevent drivers from abusing the driver-assist feature. The chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board said last year during a hearing that “it is past time to avoid allowing drivers in any partially automated vehicle to say they have driverless cars.”
The National Transportation Safety Board, which has investigated several previous Tesla incidents, is not preparing to launch a new investigation into the current incident, spokesman Chris O’Neil said.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk has defended his company’s vehicle safety record. This week, he posted a post on Twitter, claiming that a Tesla with Autopilot activated now has a “tenfold lower” risk of being involved in an accident than the average car.
