US opens probe into fatal Tesla crash in Texas as Musk denies Autopilot role

The crash

A Tesla Model 3 left the road and slammed into a brick home in Katy, Texas, near Houston, on the evening of June 19. The driver, Michael Butler, told Harris County sheriff's deputies that the vehicle's automated driving assistance system was engaged at the time. The car struck Martha Avila, 76, who was airlifted to a hospital and later pronounced dead. Police said Butler showed no signs of intoxication and cooperated with investigators.

Tesla's response

Tesla broke from its usual silence on Monday. Ashok Elluswamy, the company's vice president of AI, posted on X that the driver had manually overridden the system by pressing the accelerator to 100%, reaching 73 mph (117 km/h) in a residential area, and kept the pedal pressed even after impact.

“In this case, the driver manually overrode self-driving by pressing the accelerator all the way to 100% of the accel pedal in this residential area. They reached a speed of 73 mph during the crash, and had the accelerator pressed even after the crash.”

Elon Musk amplified the denial, arguing that Full Self-Driving (FSD) operates slowly on neighborhood streets and that the high-speed nature of the crash contradicted claims of autonomous involvement.

“FSD drives slowly through neighborhood streets and this was a high speed crash!”

Federal investigation

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) announced on Monday that it had opened a special crash investigation, its most in-depth form of inquiry. Since 2016, the agency has launched more than 40 such probes into Tesla incidents where advanced driver-assistance systems were suspected, with at least 20 crash deaths recorded. The Harris County Sheriff's Office said it would present its findings to the local district attorney to determine whether criminal charges are warranted.

Regulatory pressure in Europe

Scrutiny of Tesla's driver-assistance technology extends beyond the United States. Sweden's transport administration, TRV, has urged the EU's Technical Committee for Motor Vehicles to vote against a Europe-wide approval of FSD unless Tesla disables a feature that allows drivers to exceed speed limits. The committee is scheduled to discuss the matter on June 30.