Update: Lars Moravy, Tesla’s vice president of vehicle engineering, claimed during the company’s latest investor relations call that the steering wheel of the car in this incident showed signs of deformity, indicating an individual was behind the driver’s seat. We reached out to local authorities for comment about this new information but have yet to hear back. We will continue to update this story as more details emerge.
Two men are dead after a Tesla Model S ran off the road and struck a tree in Texas—an incident that is garnering national attention because authorities believe neither man was behind the wheel of the Model S at the time of the crash. After impact, the vehicle was engulfed in flames, though authorities quickly brought the fire under control.
The incident occurred late yesterday in Spring, Texas, a suburb of Houston. According to Harris County Precinct 4 Constable Mark Herman, who spoke with Houston television station KPRC 2, the police investigation is still ongoing, but so far has shown that neither man was behind the wheel, with one of the men in the passenger seat and the other behind him in the rear passenger seat of the Model S at the time of the crash. The identities of the men have not yet been released.
Tesla vehicles are equipped with Tesla’s Autopilot capabilities, and authorities are still investigating the exact circumstances of the crash. The car was reportedly traveling at a high rate of speed when it lost control on a curve, struck a tree, and immediately burst into flames.
According to Palmer Buck, the Woodlands Township fire chief, firefighters were able to contain the fire within a few minutes of arriving on scene, but needed to dribble water over the wreck for several hours after. This is because the damaged batteries needed to be kept cool, lest they continue to ignite, an issue that can occur with all-electric vehicles when the battery pack catches fire and spreads to the pack’s separate cells that may still store energy. Very little was left of what was reportedly a 2019 Model S once the fire was out.
Recently, Tesla has rolled out a beta test of what it calls its Full Self Driving (FSD) software, an expansion of its Autopilot system. As Tesla and other automakers have noted repeatedly, these systems are not meant to serve as a replacement for a human driver, who must be able to take full control of the car at any time. It is unclear at this time if the car involved in the crash had the FSD beta system installed. In fact, Tesla has started to kick out drivers who have been pushing the limits of FSD off of the test.
Autopilot and other systems such as the General Motors Super Cruise are not fully autonomous systems, but rather driver assist features. Tesla CEO Elon Musk himself has warned in the past of drivers becoming too complacent, which can lead to inattention and crashes.
Tesla no longer has a public relations team to field any questions about the crash. Musk’s most recent Twitter post retweeted Tesla’s own report posted by Tesla Owners Online that Teslas with Autopilot engaged are approaching ten times fewer crashes than cars without it.
Tesla with Autopilot engaged now approaching 10 times lower chance of accident than average vehicle https://t.co/6lGy52wVhC
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 17, 2021
This story was originally published on April 18, 2021.
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