A driver in a Tesla vehicle that was engaged in automated driver-assistance mode crashed into a house in Texas on the night of June 19 and killed a woman inside, authorities said.
The driver, Michael Butler, was in a Tesla Model 3 at about 8pm local time and operating the car “with an automated driving assistance system”, the Harris County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement on June 21.
The crash happened in Katy, Texas, about 48km west of Houston in Harris County.
Butler “failed to drive in a single lane, left the roadway and struck the residence” at 1907 Blooming Park Lane, authorities said.
His Tesla “entered through the brick residence at a high rate of speed”, and struck Martha Avila, who was inside, according to the sheriff’s office.
The office said Avila was taken by a medical helicopter to a hospital, where she was later pronounced dead.
Investigators said Butler showed no signs of intoxication and was cooperative during the investigation, which is in progress.
A front-door video camera that captured the crash showed the Tesla ploughing into the house through its driveway. It was not clear how fast the Tesla was travelling.
“We’re still evaluating what caused that car to fail to control its speed just before this crash,” Sergeant Alex Turman of the Harris County Sheriff’s Office told ABC13 Houston.
He said Avila, 76, was standing in the front room of the house at the time.
The Harris County Sheriff’s Office did not respond to inquiries on June 22 about the crash.
Efforts to find Butler for comment were not immediately successful on June 22. It was not immediately clear whether he sustained any injuries in the crash. Tesla did not respond to an inquiry about the crash and its software. NYTIMES
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
