Two people were killed in the crash of a Tesla and authorities say no one was in the driver’s seat, although it is unclear if the car driver’s assistance system was being used. A Harris County agent told Houston television that there was one person in the front passenger seat and another in the rear passenger seat after the wreck in the Spring suburb of Houston.
Mark Herman, a District 4 agent in Harris County, said authorities are confident no one was driving the car at the time of the crash.
“They feel very confident only in the positioning of the bodies after the impact that no one was driving this vehicle,” Herman told CBS affiliate KHOU-TV.
Deputies said the car, a Tesla Model S according to KHOU-TV, was traveling fast and could not navigate a bend before getting off the road, crashing into a tree and bursting into flames on Saturday night. The identities of the victims had not been released on Sunday afternoon. KHOU-TV reported that one was 69 years old and the other was 59 years old.
Tesla did not immediately respond to an email requesting comments from The Associated Press.
Federal traffic safety officials are investigating several Tesla crashes in which the vehicle’s autopilot function could have been used, including crashes in which cars were driving under tractor trailers.
The company warns customers that its driver assistance system, called autopilot, is not an autonomous driving program and that they must pay attention and be prepared to control the vehicle. However, the National Transportation Safety Board said last year that the design of the system allows drivers to avoid paying attention and cannot limit where autopilot can be used.
Local broadcaster KPRC-TV reported that a brother-in-law of one of the victims said it took four hours to put out the fire. Authorities said the vehicle’s batteries were re-ignited and Herman said deputies called Tesla to ask him how to put out the fire. Tesla publishes information for first aid, including the location of high voltage lines.