Tesla has provided further details on the deadly crash that claimed the lives of two people in Houston earlier this month.
Mainstream media tried to blame Tesla’s Autopilot system for accident. The dramatic headlines of a driverless Tesla killing two people started because of comments made by Harris County Precinct 4 Constable Mark Herman. During an interview he said his crash investigators were “100% certain no one was in the driver’s seat, driving that vehicle at the time of impact. They’re positive.”
A few days later Musk provided an update, saying initial data logs retrieved from the car showed Autopilot was not active at the time of the crash. During the Q1 2021 earnings call, the CEO and others shared more details on the crash, reiterating Musk’s previous assertion that Autopilot was not at fault.
According to comments made during the call, Tesla has been working with local authorities over the past week and determined that, as designed, Autosteer did not and could not engage on the street where the crash took place. It was also reiterated that even if it was engaged, it would have only accelerated up to 30mph (48km/h).
Based on an inspection of the car, it was also found that the steering wheel was deformed. This indicates a high likelihood someone was in fact behind the wheel at the time of the crash.
Unfortunately they were unable to recover any data from the SD card in the vehicle. They continue to work with local authorities and are awaiting their final report.
Elon Musk wasn’t afraid to share his disgust with journalists who covered the story, saying there was some extremely deceptive media practices, and that the reports were completely false.
He added that the journalists should be ashamed of themselves in how they were eager to blame Tesla without doing their own research into how it would have been impossible for it to occur as described by authorities.
