Tesla: deadly crash ignites raging four hour fire

Officials believe the Tesla vehicle may have been operating on Autopilot.

The crash killed two people inside.

 The following written content by Lucas Manfredi 

Authorities near Houston, Texas are investigating a horrifying and deadly crash scene involving what deputies believe was a driverless Tesla on auto-pilot that sparked a raging four hour fire, killing two people inside. 

Deputies say that a fully-electric 2019 Tesla Model S, worth about $80,000, was traveling along a curve at a high rate of speed before crashing into a tree at around 11:25 p.m. Saturday night in the Carlton Woods subdivision near The Woodlands.

Officials believe the Tesla may have been operating on auto-pilot, noting that one of the individuals was found in the passenger seat while the other was found in the back seat.

According to KPRC 2, the brother-in-law of one of the victims said the men were taking the car out for a spin, and that the driver was seen backing out of the driveway and may have hopped in the back seat before the crash. 

A sheriff’s department spokesperson said the vehicle immediately burst into flames following the crash, and that local firefighters worked for four hours to put out the blaze, which required 32,000 gallons of water to extinguish. At one point, responding deputies had to call Tesla at one point to ask them how to put out the fire in the battery, which kept reigniting. 

Officials are still reportedly investigating whether the front passenger air bag deployed and whether the vehicle’s advanced driver-assistance system was enabled at the time of the crash and will conduct autopsies on the two men.  

The incident comes as Tesla released its accident data for the first quarter of 2021. 

CEO Elon Musk claimed that Tesla vehicles with Autopilot engaged are now approaching a 10 times lower chance of an accident than the average vehicle. Read more from Fox Business.

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