The Nationwide Transportation Security Board (NTSB) printed an replace Thursday on its investigation right into a deadly crash involving a Tesla on April 17 this yr. The federal automobile security watchdogs discovered that driver and passenger seats had been occupied on the time of the collision and that each individuals had been sporting their seatbelts.

The NTSB additionally mentioned that knowledge taken from an “occasion knowledge recorder,” or the automotive’s black field, point out that the driving force “was making use of the accelerator within the time main as much as the crash.” Within the 5 seconds main as much as the crash, the automotive reached a excessive pace of 67 miles per hour.

The NTSB’s discovering contradicts what officers believed had occurred within the days following the crash, in keeping with press interviews with Harris County Precinct 4 Constable Mark Herman in April.

For instance, Herman instructed KHOU-TV that officers “really feel very assured simply with the positioning of the our bodies after the impression that there was nobody driving that automobile.” Herman described an individual discovered within the entrance passenger seat and one other within the rear passenger seat after the crash. The New York Instances additionally reported that Herman mentioned officers believed “nobody was driving the automobile on the time of the crash.”

Native authorities are investigating this crash in parallel with NTSB. The crash brought on the automotive’s high-voltage lithium-ion battery to ignite, burning each the passenger and driver badly and destroying the automotive, which has made investigations difficult.

One query all of those authorities have is whether or not Tesla’s automobile, or any parts of it, together with software program, might have been faulty in a means that contributed to or brought on the accident. Whereas the most recent findings are inconclusive on that time, they do rule out the state of affairs that the driving force was not within the seat behind the wheel. Tesla has drawn criticism for its design, testing and advertising of driver help methods, together with failure to forestall drivers from abusing or over-estimating the capabilities of Autopilot and FSD.

The NTSB’s replace Thursday specified {that a} full investigation has not but been accomplished. The federal workplace famous:

“All points of the crash, together with Tesla’s superior driver help system, the postcrash fireplace, occupant egress, and outcomes of the driving force’s toxicological checks, stay underneath investigation whereas the NTSB determines the possible trigger, with the intent of issuing security suggestions to forestall related occasions sooner or later.”

Bloomberg reported that an post-mortem report confirmed one of many victims had a blood-alcohol degree exceeding the state’s authorized driving restrict on the time of the crash.

Tesla sells two tiers of driver help methods underneath the model names Autopilot, and Full Self-Driving (FSD). It additionally releases a “beta,” or pre-release model, of its Full Self Driving software program to some clients who’ve the premium FSD possibility, which prices $10,000 up entrance or $199 per thirty days.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk mentioned on a Feb. 11 episode of the Joe Rogan Expertise podcast: “I feel Autopilot’s getting adequate that you simply will not must drive more often than not except you actually need to.”

Nevertheless, Tesla Autopilot, FSD and FSD Beta aren’t able to controlling the electrical automobiles in all regular driving circumstances. The corporate specifies in house owners’ manuals and different communications with clients that drivers ought to stay attentive to the street and on the wheel always even whereas utilizing Autopilot, FSD or FSD Beta.

NTSB revealed earlier this yr that whereas the Mannequin S was geared up with Tesla’s customary Autopilot driver help bundle, the software program’s Autosteer function couldn’t be engaged when investigators used a check automotive used on the similar location the place the crash occurred. Nevertheless, the pattern automotive was capable of interact a distinct function, Site visitors-Conscious Cruise Management, on that a part of the street.

In response to Tesla’s web site, Site visitors-Conscious Cruise Management matches the pace of an individual’s automotive to that of surrounding site visitors, whereas Autosteer assists in steering inside a clearly marked lane, and works along with traffic-aware cruise management.

Individually, NHTSA can be investigating Tesla Autopilot, and attempting to find out if it had or has any security defects that led to a string of crashes the place Tesla drivers hit parked first responder automobiles on the aspect of the street in low gentle situations. In these twelve crashes included within the investigation, NHTSA discovered, drivers had Autopilot or site visitors conscious cruise management engaged.

On an earnings name to debate third-quarter outcomes yesterday, Tesla Vice President of Automobile Engineering Lars Moravy mentioned throughout these investigations his group is all the time “cooperative” with NHTSA. He mentioned, “We count on and embrace the scrutiny of those merchandise and know that the reality about their efficiency and the improvements our merchandise have will in the end be all that issues.”