Two men killed in Tesla car crash 'without driver' in seat

[Steven P. Administrators]

Darwin award nominees.

 

SCOTT J ENGLE/REUTERS

 

Two men were killed after a Tesla car crashed into a tree and caught fire in Texas, and police believe there was nobody present in the driver's seat at the time of the accident.

 

The 2019 Tesla Model S was travelling at a high speed when it failed to negotiate a curve on a winding road.

 

The victims, both in their 50s, were found in the front passenger seat and in the back of the vehicle.

 

Tesla did not respond immediately to the BBC's request for comment.

 

Evidence suggests that “no-one was driving the vehicle at the time of impact,” said Mark Herman, Harris County Precinct 4 constable, adding the case was still under investigation.

 

It is unclear whether Tesla's Autopilot feature was in use.

 

Source: BBC https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-56799749

[ATLien_0]

driving here in Atlanta, I cannot wait for autonomous driving to become a thing. But iditiots like this are ruining things already, due to their stupidity. 

[Dick Montage]

30 minutes ago, ATLien_0 said:

driving here in Atlanta, I cannot wait for autonomous driving to become a thing. But iditiots like this are ruining things already, due to their stupidity. 

"Idiots like this" would have found another way to cause injury or death to someone with or without self-driving cars

[FloatingFatMan]

Sadly, it's not the morons that did this that will be blamed, the Tesla will.

[Jim K Global Moderator]

Putting aside the dead dumbasses .... they really need to figure out this huge issue (especially as battery-powered cars become the norm...)

Quote

The brother-in-law of one of the victims said relatives watched the car burn for four hours as authorities tried to tap out the flames.

 

Authorities said they used 32,000 gallons of water to extinguish the flames because the vehicle’s batteries kept reigniting. At one point, Herman said, deputies had to call Tesla to ask them how to put out the fire in the battery.

Source

Seems to be a huge problem whenever the Tesla activates cremation mode...that it takes an ungodly amount of time to put the fire out. Assuming this is a problem with other battery-powered cars.

[Dick Montage]

4 minutes ago, Jim K said:

Assuming this is a problem with other battery-powered cars.

It's a problem with batteries, full stop.

[DocM]

Doesn't sound like the Model S was using Autopilot, just an idiotic wetware pilot.