A Texas man was charged with manslaughter on July 1 after he crashed into a home, killing 76-year-old Marhta Ávila.
The crash occurred on June 16 around 8 p.m. in Harris County, about a 30-minute drive from Houston, while Michael Butler was completing a food delivery for DoorDash as one of its “dashers,” according to the Harris County District Clerk’s office.
The office said Butler claimed that his Tesla’s full self-driving (FSD) mode was on when he crashed the car into Ávila’s home.
Butler told paramedics at the scene he remembered changing the music before he “looked at the navigation screen and the next thing he remembers … was after he crashed.” He later told hospital personnel that he “remembers putting the car in self-driving mode” before he “passed out,” according to the authorities.
Tesla’s FSD is designed to fully drive the vehicle, including steering, lane changes, and parking, with minimal-to-no human intervention. The company said the feature is trained on billions of miles of real-world driving data and utilizes the many exterior cameras on the car.
The District Clerk’s Office said investigators reviewed video of the Tesla’s cameras, as well as logs of its speed, pedals, steering, and other features.
Authorities found that while driving on Rose Hollow Lane, the street where Ávila’s house is located, the FSD mode attempted to make a left turn onto Park Brush Lane, in the direction of the next DoorDash delivery stop.
They said that before turning, the Tesla data showed that pressure was placed “quickly but gradually” onto the accelerator pedal, overriding FSD’s speed control. At the same time, the steering wheel was pulled from left to right, and the car began speeding to the end of the street.
In six seconds, the accelerator was pressed all the way to 100 percent, and the car reached a speed of 73 miles per hour, more than double the speed limit. The car struck the curb of Ávila’s home and went airborne toward the house before the video cut out, the office said.
Authorities also found that in the final minute before the crash, the brake pedal was never pressed, the driver didn’t attempt to steer away from the curb, and no mechanical issues were found.
Investigators concluded that FSD mode was turned on, but Butler overrode it by flooring the accelerator pedal and recklessly driving into and through Ávila’s home.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk responded to a report of the incident on X, saying “Yes, this makes no sense. FSD drives slowly through neighborhood streets and this was a high speed crash!”
“Yup. In this case, the driver manually overrode self-driving by pressing the accelerator all the way to 100% of the accel pedal in this residential area,” Ashok Ellusway, Tesla VP of AI software, said in reply to Musk. “They reached a speed of 73 mph during the crash, and had the accelerator pressed even after the crash.”
According to the office, investigators added that a search of Butler’s phone found that he had multiple Google searches relating to his frustrations with FSD’s lack of speed, including “Tesla fsd not aggressive enough 2206 model,” “FSD is not aggressive enough for city driving,” and “tesla fsd too timid.”
The Epoch Times reached out to Butler’s defense team for comment and are awaiting a response.
A $150,000 bond was set for Butler, who was arrested and booked into the Harris County Jail.
