Two men died in a Tesla crash in Spring, Texas on Saturday night, and no one was reportedly behind the wheel, according to local police interviewed by reporter Deven Clarke on NBC’s KPRC 2.
The Tesla crashed into a tree and burst into flames, according to reports. One person was found in the front passenger seat and another person in the back seat of the vehicle.
Based on a preliminary investigation, police told KPRC 2 that they believe no one was behind the wheel, but did not complete a comprehensive investigation. A preliminary investigation is not conclusive.
Police did not immediately respond to CNBC’s questions about whether the driver could have moved or been expelled from his seat during or after the collision.
Firefighters allegedly used 32,000 gallons of water and spent hours suppressing the fire that resulted from the electric vehicle accident.
As previously reported by CNBC, Tesla sells automatic driving systems under the brand name Autopilot and Full Self-Driving (FSD). It is also launching a “beta” version of Full Self Driving (FSD beta) software for some customers who have the premium FSD option, which currently costs $ 10,000.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk said in a Feb. 11 episode of the Joe Rogan Experience podcast: “I think autopilot gets good enough that you don’t have to drive most of the time unless you really want to. ”.
The Tesla and FSD autopilot are not capable of controlling electric vehicles under all normal driving conditions.
In a letter to the California DMV late last year, according to records obtained by CNBC and others, Tesla’s lawyers said that “neither autopilot nor FSD Capability is an autonomous system.” And in the owners’ manuals, Tesla warns drivers: “Currently activated functions require active driver supervision and do not make the vehicle autonomous.”
However, many Tesla fans and influencers share videos on social media showing people driving their hands free for extended periods, falling asleep at the wheel or with no one in the driver’s seat.
For example, actor Jamie Foxx shared a video on his YouTube channel in which he pretended to sleep behind the wheel of a Tesla Model 3, acting with his hands free with his eyes closed. In January this year, as reported by The Drive, a teenager and his mother made a video in which he pretended to sleep behind the wheel of a Tesla and then climbed into the back seat for a postponement.
In Germany, a court in Munich actually banned Tesla from using expressions equivalent to Autopilot and Full Autopilot capability in its advertising, because they found that this language misled consumers and exaggerated the capabilities of cars.
CNBC contacted Tesla and the fire and police departments in Harris County, Texas for more information.
The news of the fatal accident comes as the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) assesses the comments of the public it sought before drafting the proposed rules. The federal agency has not yet regulated automatic driving systems, but has left that to the states.
There have also been several accidents involving recent Tesla vehicles, prompting federal probes to determine whether their autopilot or FSD systems have collided. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said last month that it had opened 27 investigations into Tesla vehicle accidents, of which 23 remain active.
Just hours before the fatal crash report in Spring, Texas, Musk backed up the company’s first-quarter crash data.
He said on Twitter – where he has more than 50 million followers – “Tesla with autopilot is now engaged, with 10 times less chance of crashing than the average vehicle.”
According to data that Tesla collected but did not share with third parties for independent analysis, the company said: “We recorded an accident for every 4.19 million miles traveled in which drivers hired autopilot. driving without autopilot, but with our active safety features, we recorded one accident for every 2.05 million miles driven.For those driving without autopilot and without our active safety features, we recorded one accident for every 978 thousands of miles driven. “
Tesla did not disclose how many accidents involving their cars resulted in injuries, deaths or just damage to vehicles or property.