A Tesla dealership in the United States (illustration). – Eric Risberg / AP / SIPA
To understand the causes of a car accident that took place Saturday night in the United States, investigators will have to determine if a person was actually driving the vehicle. According to Wall Street Journal and the local television channel KPRC2, there was apparently no one behind the wheel when two men died in Texas in a Tesla crash.
The vehicle was moving at high speed when it crashed into a tree and caught fire, according to these media. Authorities found only two individuals, one in the passenger seat and the other in the back seat. “The first elements of the investigation, which is not yet complete, show that there was no one behind the wheel of the vehicle,” Harris County Police official Mark Herman told the Wall Street Journal.
Tesla warning
Police had not yet determined on Sunday whether the driver’s seat airbag had deployed and whether the vehicle’s driver assistance system was engaged at the time of the collision. On its website, Tesla warns that driver assistance systems do not make the vehicle autonomous and that active supervision of a driver remains necessary.