Two men have died following a car crash involving a Tesla Model S, which was reportedly operating without anybody in the driver’s seat, on Saturday night just north of Houston.

The 2019 model was travelling at a high speed when it failed to recognise a curve and went off the roadway, subsequently crashing into a tree and bursting into flames. Local authorities confirmed that the two passengers in the vehicle were both killed in the crash.

As Wall Street Journal report, Constable Mark Herman confirmed “Our preliminary investigation is determining – but it’s not complete yet – that there was no one at the wheel of that vehicle.” Herman continued, ”We’re almost 99.9 per cent sure.”

Tesla has recently come under fire for its semi-automatic driving system, following a string of accidents. The US auto safety confirmed that it had opened 27 investigations into crashes of Tesla vehicles — with three of those accidents occurring recently.

Tesla is currently preparing to launch its updated “full self-driving” software to customers.  Elon Musk took to Twitter earlier this week to share a report substantiating that Tesla with Autopilot engaged is approaching a “10 times lower” chance of a crash than an average vehicle.

In January, Musk was positive that he’d expect substantial profits from the company’s full self-driving software, saying he was “highly confident the car will be able to drive itself with reliability in excess of human this year”.

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