Two deaths in an accident with a Tesla: Elon Musk assures that the Autopilot was not activated despite the statements of the police

 Sylvie Claire / April 22, 2021

This Saturday night in Houston, two men died in a Tesla car when it hit a tree and burst into flames. The question then arises: was the Autopilot activated at the time of the accident?

According to county police, neither Will Varner, 59, nor Everett Talbot, 69, were found behind the wheel of the Tesla that crashed into a tree Saturday night in Houston. But for Elon Musk, Autopilot was not activated in the car.

The data logs recovered so far show that Autopilot was not activated and that this car did not purchase a DSP, the Tesla and SpaceX executive wrote on his Twitter. Also, standard Autopilot would require lane lines to activate, which this street did not have .

But police officers investigating the crash disagree with the car's manufacturer. One officer said they were very confident that just with the positioning of the bodies after the impact, they could assure that there was no one driving that vehicle.

Tesla's manuals state that activated functions require active driver supervision and do not make the vehicle autonomous. Active driver supervision is therefore still required. Despite this, many drivers share videos showing people driving hands-free for extended periods of time.