Two men were killed after a Tesla vehicle, believed to be working without someone in the driver’s seat, crashed into a tree north of Houston, authorities said.
“There was no one in the driver’s seat,” said Sinth Cinthya Umanzor of Harris County 4 Constable neighborhood about the crash Saturday night.
The 2019 Tesla Model S was driving at a high speed when he could not negotiate a curve and went off the driveway, crashed into a tree and burst into flames, the local television station KHOU-TV said.
After the fire was extinguished, authorities located two passengers, with one in the front passenger seat while the other was in the back seat of the Tesla, the report said, referring to Harris County Precinct 4 police officer Mark Herman.
Tesla and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The crash comes amid growing investigations into Tesla’s semi-automatic driving system following recent crashes and as it prepares to introduce its updated software for “complete self-driving” to more customers.
The U.S. Automobile Safety Agency said in March it had opened 27 investigations into accidents involving Tesla vehicles. At least three of the accidents occurred recently.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk said in January he expects huge profits from the complete self-driving software, saying he is “very confident that this year the car can drive with a reliability of more than one person”.
The self-management technology must overcome safety and regulatory barriers to achieve commercial success.
Umanzor said the two accident victims were born in 1962 and 1951.