In what could be another Autopilot-mode failure, two persons were killed in a Tesla car crash in Texas. Harris County Precinct 4 Constable Mark Herman told Houston television station KPRC 2 that investigations revealed that 'no one was driving' the fully electric 2019 Tesla when the accident happened.
"There was a person in the passengers’ seats in the front and the rear," the report quoted Herman as saying on Sunday.
Herman said it took firefighters nearly four hours and more than 30,000 gallons of water to extinguish the blaze.
"Normally, firefighters bring vehicle fires under control in minutes. But this went on for nearly four hours," according to a KHOU 11 report.
At one point, the crew had to call Tesla to ask how to put the fire out. Preliminary reports suggested that the car was travelling at a high speed and failed to make a turn, drove off the road and crashed into a tree.
It's not yet clear whether the car had its autopilot driver assist system activated. Tesla is yet to react to the incident.
There have been at least 23 Tesla autopilot-related crashes, currently under investigation by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).
Tesla had already cautioned that Autopilot is not an autonomous driving system and requires a driver's constant attention.
Last month, the NHTSA swung into action after the driver of a Tesla Model Y smashed into a state trooper's cruiser near Michigan. Michigan police said the driver was using autopilot, Tesla's advanced driver-assistance system (ADAS), at the time of the crash.
The electric carmaker recently rolled out a beta version of Autopilot called 'Full Self Driving', calling it the next step towards secure driving.
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