Two men died after a Tesla vehicle that authorities believe was operating without anyone in the driver’s seat crashing into a tree Saturday night north of Houston.
One of the men was in the front passenger seat and the other was in the back seat of the Tesla, which was traveling at high speed along a curve before hitting a tree around 11:25 p.m. local time, Harris County Precinct 4 Constable Mark Herman said in an interview.
“Our preliminary investigation determines – but is not yet complete – that no one was behind the wheel of that vehicle,” said the police officer. “We are almost 99.9% sure.”
It took about four hours and about 32,000 gallons of water to put out the fire to put out the fire, Mr Herman said. On Sunday morning, authorities were still investigating whether the front passenger’s airbag was deployed.
Neither Tesla Inc. nor the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the top U.S. regulatory authority for road safety, responded immediately to requests for comment.