Two men died in Texas in an accident involving an apparently driverless Tesla. The vehicle was accelerating when it crashed into a tree and immediately caught fire. Police found only two people, aged 59 and 69, one in the passenger seat and one in the back seat. “The initial results of the investigation, which is not yet complete, show that there was no one behind the wheel of the vehicle,” Harris County Police Officer Mark Herman told The Wall Street Journal.
It is still unclear whether the driver’s seat airbag deployed, but it appears very likely that the vehicle’s driver assistance system was engaged at the time of the accident. It took four hours to put out the fire. Authorities said the vehicle’s batteries repeatedly re-ignited, and officers had to call Tesla to ask how to put out the fire.
On its website, Elon Musk’s company warns that the driver assistance systems they offer do not make the vehicle autonomous and that active supervision from a driver is still required. But videos are often posted that regularly show Tesla with drivers asleep or without their hands on the wheel for extended periods of time.