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US federal transportation authorities have launched a special investigation into a fatal crash in Texas involving Tesla's advanced driver assistance system (ADAS).
Tesla CEO Elon Musk has pushed back, saying the claim "doesn't make sense."
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is conducting a Special Crash Investigation into a fatal Tesla accident in Houston, Texas, the Wall Street Journal reported Sunday.
The NHTSA opens special investigations into crashes that present unusual circumstances from an engineering standpoint. The agency handles roughly 100 such cases per year.
According to the Harris County Sheriff's Office, a Tesla Model 3 veered off the road June 19 and slammed into a house at high speed. A woman in her 70s who was in the front doorway died as a result.
The driver said the vehicle's advanced driver assistance system was engaged at the time of the crash. It has not yet been confirmed whether the system in question was Tesla's Full Self-Driving (FSD) feature.
Musk said on X, formerly Twitter, that the claim "doesn't make sense," adding that "FSD drives slowly in residential areas — this was a speeding accident."
If investigators find a defect, the automaker would be required to issue a recall.
Woman in her 70s airlifted to hospital, later pronounced dead
The accident occurred in Katy, a city about 30 kilometers west of Houston, according to the New York Times.
The woman sustained serious injuries and was airlifted to a hospital, where she was pronounced dead.
Security camera footage from the home's front entrance captured the vehicle crashing into the house at high speed. The sheriff's office said the driver was not intoxicated at the time of the incident.
"We are still investigating why the vehicle was unable to control its speed just before the crash," the sheriff's office said.
Tesla's FSD system goes beyond the company's basic Autopilot feature and can handle lane changes, intersection navigation and other functions. It still requires constant driver supervision and the ability to intervene when necessary.
In the United States, the FSD name itself has drawn repeated criticism for potentially misleading consumers into believing the system offers fully autonomous capability — a perception some argue has contributed to accidents and a wave of related lawsuits.
yul@heraldcorp.com
