Harris County Constable’s Office
Tesla’s attempts to develop self-driving software have been more than problematic, with accident after accident attributed to the Autopilot of its day and FSD today. Now another Tesla driver is blaming Autopilot for an accident after he crashed his Model 3 into a Texas home, killing a 76-year-old woman inside. But there’s a big problem with the story: the car in question most likely didn’t have an autopilot installed at the time of the accident.
Update Monday, June 6, 2026 12:00 p.m.: The Tesla driver has now been charged with manslaughter. according to Reuters. He claims he “blacked out” while changing the music on the car’s touchscreen, even though he reportedly had no drugs or alcohol in his system. We probably haven’t seen the last of this case, but it’s becoming increasingly clear that the Tesla wasn’t driving in any driver assistance mode at the time of the accident.
According to the Harris County Constable’s Office, both the driver and the 76-year-old resident of the home were taken to the hospital following the accident, where the resident died from her injuries. The statement from the trooper’s office also said, “The driver told officers he put the Tesla on Autopilot.” [sic]“Autopilot was discontinued earlier this year in an update released to all Tesla models (an update that is now so outdated that no cars currently have this version of software) and replaced with the name “Self-Driving” to contrast with Tesla’s “Full Self-Driving” software suite.
Table of Contents
ADAS or accident?
Harris County Constable’s Office
It is currently unclear which driver assistance software, if any, was involved in this fatal accident. The eyewitness statements collected by Click 2 Houston are unclear. Witnesses said the car was traveling at more than 60 miles per hour, but at least one report said the driver appeared to be screaming. While Tesla’s self-driving suite can be set to exceed the specified limits, the driver of the car would still have to set an offset by which the specified limit would be exceeded. Many roads in this region of Texas have no speed limit information, but the stretch of road in question here – Rose Hollow Lane – has a speed limit listed online of 25 miles per hour, although there appears to be no signage in Google Street View.
Now the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has opened an investigation into the accident based on Tesla’s claim that the driver pressed the car’s accelerator to the floor and held it there until after the accident. It sounds like this is a classic case of hitting the wrong pedal, especially considering Tesla’s claim that the Model 3 did Activate Auto Steering Assist before the driver presses the narrow pedal. The driver may have intended to apply the brake to deactivate the automatic steering, but instead stepped on the accelerator, froze and sped into the house. Regardless of the reason, this crash is a tragedy, and as more information comes to light, we will hopefully have answers about exactly what happened – and how we can prevent the next similar crash.
https://www.jalopnik.com/2199665/tesla-driver-blames-crash-software-car-doesnt-have/
