Tesla is being investigated after a car crashed into a home, killing a 76-year-old woman
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The chief executive of the Auto Regulator opened an investigation Monday after a Tesla using automated drive crashed into a Texas home at high speed, killing a 76-year-old woman.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said it is opening a special investigation into the Tesla Model 3 crash that happened Friday near Houston. This car was using technology that Elon Musk considered to be the key to the future of this company.
Tesla’s CEO is rolling out robotaxis using automated software in several US cities this year and plans to invite Tesla owners to ship their cars using the same system across the country.
The driver told the County Sheriff’s Office that he was using technology, according to a police report on the crash. It is not clear whether this technology played a role in the incident.
The video shows the car entering the home
Tesla did not respond to a request for comment, but the head of the company’s artificial intelligence efforts suggested on social media that the self-driving feature was inappropriate.
“In this case, the pilot overpowered himself by pressing the accelerator up to 100% of the accel pedal in this landing,” wrote Ashok Elluswamy on X Monday, a platform that is now part of Musk’s rocket company, SpaceX.
“They reached a speed of 73 mph [119 km/h] at the time of the crash, and the accelerator was depressed even after the crash.”
The police report stated that the driver had not been drinking and was cooperating with him. It identified the woman who was killed as Martha Avila.
Video obtained by KHOU-TV shows a car speeding across the front lawn of a brick home in Katy, Texas, and then crashing into the front room. The next photo shows a car stuck in a house between piles of falling concrete, broken beams and pieces of furniture.
Tesla has been investigated before
The auto safety regulator, known as NHTSA, has launched several investigations into Tesla, including one late last year in 58 incidents where Teslas were reported to have violated road safety rules while using self-driving technology, leading to more than a dozen accidents and fires and nearly a dozen injuries.
A few months ago, the NHTSA opened an investigation into why Tesla apparently wasn’t reporting crashes as quickly as it was required to.
As for the special crash investigation, NHTSA has opened 46 other cases involving Teslas using self-driving or driver-assistance technology over the past decade, according to agency records. In more than a dozen of those accidents, at least one person died – the driver, passenger or pedestrian.
Tesla stock fell sharply at the beginning of last year. Auto sales have fallen sharply amid Musk’s boycott after entering politics, leading President Donald Trump’s campaign to slash the budget of the Department of Public Works and to welcome extremists from Europe.
Musk has changed Tesla’s story to one that is less about car sales and more about AI and robotaxis, and he has done so successfully. The stock is up 16 percent over the past year.
