Tesla crash that killed a woman under US federal investigation

Breaking news from the markets: Tesla crash that killed a woman under US federal investigation30 minutes ago Share Save Add as preferred on GoogleKali HaysTechnology reporterGetty ImagesA Tesla, not the one pictured, crashed into a house in Texas. A fatal crash involving a Tesla that drove into a home is now being investigated by the US auto safety regulator. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NTSA) opened a formal inquiry on Monday into an accident that occurred on 19 June in Texas, in which a man driving a Tesla sped off the road.

A woman who was in the house was severely injured and died as a result, according to a report of the incident from local police. The driver was not intoxicated, police said, but claimed his Tesla was operating at the time with "an automated driving assistance system. ""NHTSA is launching a special crash investigation into this crash," an agency spokesperson said.

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A representative of Tesla, which is owned by trillionaire Elon Musk, did not respond to a request for comment on the crash or the investigation. The fatal crash occurred around 8pm local time on Friday. The driver of a Tesla Model 3 "failed to drive in a single lane, left the roadway, and struck the residence," the police report stated.

The car "entered through the brick residence at a high rate of speed" and struck the woman inside. The police gave no indication of what caused the car to speed off the road and into the woman's home, but noted the driver's claim that he was using an automated driving system. A special crash investigation from the NHTSA is the most "in-depth and detailed" form of inquiry the agency does, according to its website.

Such investigations often cover emerging technology in vehicles in order for the agency to gather data on crashes that can then be used to improve safety performance in autos more widely. While the investigation is not intended to immediately penalise a car manufacturer, it can lead to safety recalls or other actions. Tesla refers to its automated driving technology as "full self-driving (assisted).

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"The technology has been criticised as misleading in its abilities, and earlier this year the NHTSA expanded an investigation into it over its potentially poor performance in inclement weather. Last week, Democratic Senators Edward Markey and Richard Blumenthal sent a letter to the NHTSA demanding that the agency investigate Tesla's full self-driving (FSD) technology for its safety risks. "Tesla has claimed its FSD technology is safer than human driving, but the claims are based on misleading data analysis, such as comparing unlike crash outcomes, comparing new vehicles to the entire US vehicle fleet, and relying on incomplete crash data", the senators wrote.

They also urged the agency to require more information be reported by car companies utilising autonomous driving technology. Companies like Tesla, Google (which owns Waymo), and Uber are all testing and operating cars that operate with no human driver present at all.

Financial markets are tracking the development closely as investors assess the likely impact.