Tesla drivers with 'full self-driving' warned of risks and need to pay attention
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Updated: 6:32 PM PDT Apr 22, 2021
By Matt McFarland, CNN Business
Tesla drivers with 'full self-driving' warned of risks and need to pay attention
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Updated: 6:32 PM PDT Apr 22, 2021
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Harris County deputies say it was around nine saturday night when two men dropped off their wives and decided to take a 2019 Tesla model s out for a test drive in a spring area. Neighborhood investigators say, evidence at the scene revealed the vehicle was traveling fast down hammock dunes place when it lost control, hitting a tree and burst into flames, killing the two men inside. One was in the passenger seat, the other in the back seat, but no one was in the driver's seat at the time of the crash. According to Harris County constable Mark Herman, firefighters used more than 30,000 gallons of water for over four hours and eventually had to let the fire burn out on its own. We don't know yet what, what happened and I don't really want to speculate. Stephen Pace owns two Teslas, including an older model s. He talked to me about the safety features in place for the self driving mode that most people don't know about. Unless they own a Tesla. You're warned when you pick up your Tesla that this is just a driving assistance system. It's not doesn't drive yourself yet. That's the goal that eventually they will be able to drive themselves. But, but today it warns you if you don't touch the stealing steering wheel constantly, um, it checks for weight in the seat so it won't just, you know, start. Um, but so there's, there's many safety protocols built into this system. We reached out to Tesla and have not heard back, but in a recent tweet, Elon musk released this year's first quarterly safety report in it, It reveals with autopilot engaged Tesla vehicles had a lower chance of an accident than the average vehicle. Investigators hope to find out more about saturday night's crash by using downloadable data from the Tesla. My heart goes out to the families. I guess we'll see what would happen. In this case. I would just say drive carefully. I mean, the cars are very advanced. They have a lot of advanced safety features, but it doesn't mean you should not pay attention to the road. Pay attention to what other drivers are doing. Uh, don't just assume the car is going to do it all for you.