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“There was no one in the driver’s seat," Sgt. Cinthya Umanzor of
the Harris County Constable Precinct 4 said.
The 2019 Tesla Model S was traveling at a high rate of speed,
when it failed to negotiate a curve and went off the roadway,
crashing to a tree and bursting into flames, local television
station KHOU-TV said.
After the fire was extinguished, authorities located 2 occupants
in the vehicle, with one in the front passenger seat while the
other was in the back seat of the Tesla, the report said, citing
Harris County Precinct 4 Constable Mark Herman.
Tesla and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration did
not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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.
The U.S. auto safety agency said in March it has opened 27
investigations into crashes of Tesla vehicles; at least three of
the crashes occurred recently.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk said in January that he expects huge profits
from its full self-driving software, saying he is "highly
confident the car will be able to drive itself with reliability
in excess of human this year."
The self-driving technology must overcome safety and regulatory
hurdles to achieve commercial success.
Umanzor said the two crash victims were born in 1962 and 1951.
(Reporting by Hyunjoo Jin in Berkeley, California and Kanishka
Singh in Bengaluru; Additional reporting by David Shephardson in
Washington)
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