Tesla Driver Charged With Manslaughter After Overriding FSD and Speeding

A driver has been charged with manslaughter in connection with an accident in Texas where a Tesla vehicle crashed into a house, killing a resident inside.
Although the driver claimed to have been using the Full Self-Driving (FSD) feature at the time of the accident, an investigation revealed that the driver had overridden the system by manipulating the pedals and was speeding.
According to a report by The Wall Street Journal on July 2, investigators have charged the driver, 44-year-old Michael David Butler, with manslaughter following the incident on June 19, when his Tesla Model 3 crashed into a brick home in Katy, near Houston, Texas, killing a resident in their 70s.
Butler told police and emergency responders that he was working as a delivery driver and that he was operating the vehicle in FSD mode when he lost consciousness after changing music on the touchscreen.
However, after obtaining and analyzing the vehicle's black box data, investigators found that the driver had repeatedly pressed the accelerator pedal, overriding the default FSD speed settings in the residential area where the accident occurred.
The vehicle reached speeds of up to 117 km/h (73 mph), which is more than double the speed limit for that residential neighborhood.
The brake pedal was not pressed a single time during the final minute leading up to the crash.
The investigation also revealed that he had searched Google multiple times for information related to FSD, expressing frustration that the system was not aggressive enough.
Tesla vehicles come equipped with Autopilot, which maintains distance between vehicles, and also offer the optional FSD feature, which allows artificial intelligence (AI) to handle tasks from lane changes to driving, requiring only human supervision.
In the United States, there is ongoing controversy and a series of lawsuits regarding the naming of these features, with critics arguing that they mislead consumers into believing the vehicle has full autonomous capabilities, leading to accidents.
The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has been investigating approximately 40 crashes involving advanced driver-assistance systems, including FSD.
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.