NEW YORK – Two men were killed in a crash in Texas while riding in a Tesla car that police said almost certainly had no one behind the wheel, US media reported yesterday.
The vehicle was driving at high speed late Saturday north of Houston when it slammed into a tree and burst into flames, the Wall Street Journal reported, quoting Harris County constable Mark Herman.
“Our preliminary investigation is determining – but it’s not complete yet – that there was no one at the wheel of that vehicle,” he said. “We’re almost 99.9% sure.”
When police arrived, one of the two victims was sitting in the front passenger seat and the other in the rear seat.
Herman said police have not yet determined whether the driver-side airbag had deployed and whether the car’s driver assistance system was engaged at the time of the crash.
AFP was not able to reach local police for comment.
On its website, Tesla warns that the driver assistance systems it offers do not make its vehicles fully autonomous, and that active driver supervision is still necessary.
But, videos regularly show moving Teslas with drivers asleep or without their hands on the wheel for extended periods of time. – AFP, April 19, 2021
