We all knew that a story like this would be coming:

‘No one was driving’ in Tesla crash that killed two men in Spring, Texas, report says

By Lora Kolodny | Published Sunday, April 18, 2021 | 2:52 PM EDT | Updated Sunday, April 18, 2021 9:43 PM EDT

• The Tesla vehicle crashed into a tree and burst into flames, according to the reports.
• One person was found in the front passenger seat, and another in the rear passenger seat of the vehicle.
• Based on a preliminary investigation, police told KPRC 2 they believe nobody had been behind the wheel.
• Police have not finished their comprehensive investigation.

Two men died in a Tesla crash in Spring, Texas on Saturday night, and apparently nobody was behind the wheel, according to local police interviewed by reporter Deven Clarke at NBC affiliate KPRC 2.

The Tesla vehicle, a 2019 Model S, crashed into a tree and burst into flames, according to the reports. One person was found in the front passenger seat, and another in the rear passenger seat of the vehicle.

Based on a preliminary investigation, police told KPRC 2 they believe nobody had been behind the wheel, but they have not finished their comprehensive investigation. A preliminary investigation is not conclusive.

Fire fighters reportedly used 32,000 gallons of water and spent hours suppressing the fire that resulted from the electric vehicle crash.

Police told the New York Times that minutes before the crash, the wives of the men involved heard them say they wanted to go for a drive, and were talking about the vehicle’s Autopilot feature. The men were 59 and 69 years old.

There’s more at the original, but a couple of key points. In Germany, Tesla TSLA: (%) is banned from using phrases that translate to Autopilot or Fully Self-Driving. Tesla calls the system Autopilot, and that has a real, known meaning in English.

So, I have to ask: just who is legally liable for this accident, and the deaths of the two men in the vehicle? Is it the man who was supposed to be driving, for being boneheadedly stupid enough to use and trust the Autopilot, or is it Tesla, which marketed the system as an autopilot?

Tesla claims that Autopilot is safer than a human driver:

According to data that Tesla gathered but hasn’t shared with third parties for independent analysis, the company said: “We registered one accident for every 4.19 million miles driven in which drivers had Autopilot engaged. For those driving without Autopilot but with our active safety features, we registered one accident for every 2.05 million miles driven. For those driving without Autopilot and without our active safety features, we registered one accident for every 978 thousand miles driven.”

That may be true, but it doesn’t absolve Tesla from legal liability. Tesla’s market capitalization, based on the current stock price of 707.55, is $675.47 billion. TSLA was down 4.44% for the day at the time I wrote this article, and with this news, I would expect it to drop further. If the families of these two men happen to sue Tesla for a couple billion dollars, it won’t break my heart the slightest if they win.