The Tesla crash incident that happened in April in Texas showed that there was no driver when the crash happened. However, the autopsy of one of the two victims shows that they have an alcohol level higher than the legal limit. the driver’s seat was unoccupied. The wives of the victims advised that they had just returned home from dinner when [the men] were talking about the vehicle and its self-driving ability. A short time later the two men departed their residences to do a test drive when the crash occurred.
“William Varner was known to have been in the driver’s seat initially as he started from his home. But during the crash, the victim was found in the rear seat.”
“Varner’s autopsy showed that he had 0.151 g/100mL of ethanol, grain alcohol in his blood. While the legal limit of alcohol in Texas is 0.08%. The autopsy is reported by the Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences. It further included the cause of death as “blunt force trauma and thermal injuries with smoke inhalation.”
A forensic pathology consultant in Houston who reviewed Varner’s autopsy report, Lee Ann Grossberg said, “The toxicology results from the autopsy report shows that the blood-alcohol content is about two times the legal limit,”
Previously this case caught a lot of attention as there were people who saw the driverless Tesla. Which also resulted in a drop in Tesla share values for the next couple of days. The US NHTSA currently has 33 Tesla car crash investigations in its records. Among them, there were 11 deaths since 2016.
The complexity
Bloomberg unveils that complexity was revealed through this crash for safety advocates, Tesla owners, and industry executives related to autonomous vehicles. The police report actually showed that the men and their wives went out to have dinner and returned by 9 pm. It was known that the victim had a beer before dinner and then 1 and 1/2 martinis. While the other victim had a glass of wine during dinner.
Furthermore, it was known that the vehicle was going at a high rate of speed, which is led to the vehicle being drifted off the road, and traveled about 100 feet. Additionally, the wives of the victim suggested that the men were talking about cars and the ability of self-driving after dinner. As stated by the report as the driver’s seat was unoccupied. The wives of the victims advised that they had just returned home from dinner when [the men] were talking about the vehicle and its self-driving ability. A short time later the two men departed their residences to do a test drive when the crash occurred.” The NTSB collects all such incidents data and takes further steps to avoid such incidents in the future.