New York (AFP)

Two men died in Texas in a Tesla crash in which apparently no one was behind the wheel, the Wall Street Journal and local television station KPRC2 reported on Sunday.

The vehicle was moving at high speed when it crashed into a tree on Saturday night and caught fire, according to these media.

Authorities found only two individuals, one in the passenger seat and the other in the back seat.

"The first elements of the investigation, which is not yet complete, shows that there was no one behind the wheel of the vehicle," Harris County police official Mark Herman told Wall Street. Newspaper.

They had not yet determined on Sunday whether the driver's seat airbag had deployed and whether the vehicle's driver assistance system was engaged at the time of the collision.

On its website, Tesla warns that the driving assistance systems they offer do not make the vehicle autonomous and that active supervision of a driver remains necessary.

But videos regularly show Tesla with drivers asleep or without their hands on the wheel for an extended period of time.

© 2021 AFP