Two Dead As Driverless Tesla Car Crashes In Texas

Two men have been killed after a Tesla vehicle, believed to be operating without anyone in the driver’s seat, crashed into a tree on Saturday night north of Houston.

When police arrived, one of the two victims was sitting in the front passenger seat and the other in the rear seat.

Harris County constable Mark Herman was quoted as saying the vehicle was driving at high-speed late Saturday when it slammed into a tree and burst into flames.

He said the preliminary investigation is determining, but it’s not complete yet that there was no one at the wheel of that vehicle, and that they are almost 99.9 per cent sure.

Herman said police had 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.

The accident comes amid growing scrutiny over Tesla’s semi-automated driving system following recent accidents and as it is preparing to launch its updated “full self-driving” software to more customers.

On its website, Tesla warns that the driver assistance systems it offers do not make their vehicles fully autonomous and that active driver supervision is still necessary.

The US auto safety agency said in March it has opened 27 investigations into crashes of Tesla vehicles; at least three of the crashes occurred recently.

Meanwhile, Tesla CEO Elon Musk in January stated he expects huge profits from its full self-driving software, expressing full confidence that the car will be able to drive itself with reliability in excess of human this year.