The primary U.S. automotive regulator has initiated an inquiry following a high-speed collision of a Tesla, equipped with an automated driving function, into a residence in Texas, resulting in the tragic death of a 76-year-old woman. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration announced a special probe into the Tesla Model 3 crash that took place near Houston last Friday. The vehicle was utilizing technology that Elon Musk views as pivotal for the company’s future endeavors.
Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla, is introducing robotaxis employing automated software in multiple U.S. cities this year and intends to offer Tesla owners the opportunity to enlist their vehicles in the fleet using the same system nationwide. The driver informed the Harris County Sheriff’s Office that he was utilizing the technology during the accident, as per a police report. The extent to which this technology contributed to the incident remains unclear.
While Tesla did not provide a response upon request for comment, the head of the company’s artificial intelligence division implied on social media that the self-driving feature was not at fault. According to Ashok Elluswamy on X, a platform now under Musk’s SpaceX, the driver manually intervened by fully pressing the accelerator in a residential area, overriding the self-driving mechanism.
The driver, who was not under the influence of alcohol, is cooperating with authorities. The deceased individual has been identified as Martha Avila. Video footage from KHOU-TV captures the car speeding across the front yard of a brick house in Katy, Texas, before crashing into a front room, with subsequent scenes showing the vehicle embedded within the residence amidst debris and wreckage.
The NHTSA, the auto safety regulator, has conducted multiple investigations into Tesla, including a recent probe into 58 incidents where Teslas allegedly violated traffic safety regulations while utilizing self-driving technology, resulting in numerous accidents, fires, and injuries. There have been previous investigations into Tesla’s delayed reporting of crashes and a total of 46 special crash investigations involving Teslas using self-driving or driver-assistance technology over the past decade, with over a dozen of these incidents resulting in fatalities.
Tesla’s stock experienced a significant decline last year, with a drop in car sales attributed to a boycott of Musk following his foray into politics. However, Musk successfully shifted the narrative of Tesla towards AI and robotaxis, resulting in a 16% rise in the stock value over the past year.
