The fatal crash in Texas that has left a 76-year-old woman dead and her son-in-law injured has sparked another investigation by US federal authorities. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) officials announced on Wednesday they are opening an inquiry into the incident, which occurred on June 19 in Katy, near Houston.
The crash involved a Tesla Model 3 driver, Michael Butler, who reportedly engaged the car's 'autopilot' system before it crashed through the front wall of Martha Avila's residence. The vehicle's impact fatally pinned Avila inside her home, where she later died in hospital. Her son-in-law, Justin Barbour, sustained injuries in the crash.
Avila's family have taken action against Tesla, filing a civil lawsuit in Texas state court that seeks over £800,000 (more than $1m) in damages, alongside punitive damages. The complaint alleges gross negligence on the part of the company and claims its 'autopilot' and 'full self-driving' systems were defective. It also argues that Tesla failed to issue adequate warnings.
Tesla's CEO, Elon Musk, has yet to comment publicly on the investigations or the lawsuit. However, he responded to criticism on social media by stating "FSD drives slowly through neighborhood streets and this was a high speed crash!" Meanwhile, Ashok Elluswamy, Tesla's vice-president of artificial intelligence software, posted that "the driver manually overrode self-driving by pressing the accelerator all the way to 100% in this residential area."
Federal regulators have increased scrutiny on Tesla's advanced driver-assistance systems since 2016. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has opened nearly 50 special investigations into Tesla crashes potentially involving these systems, with over two dozen fatalities reported. Last year, the NHTSA escalated an investigation into 3.2 million Teslas equipped with 'full self-driving' due to concerns about its ability to detect or warn drivers in poor visibility.
The latest incident and dual federal investigations have reignited debate around the safety and reliability of autonomous and semi-autonomous driving technologies. The outcome of these investigations and the civil lawsuit could have significant implications for Tesla and the wider automotive industry, particularly concerning the deployment of driver-assistance systems.