Texas Police, Unconvinced By Elon Musk's Claim, To Serve Search Warrants On Tesla Today: Report

Texas police will serve search warrants on Tesla Inc. TSLA on Tuesday to secure data from a fatal car crash in the state over the weekend, Reuters reported, citing a senior officer.

What Happened: The move comes after Tesla CEO Elon Musk claimed on Twitter that data logs recovered so far showed the car’s Autopilot driver assistance system was not enabled and the car had not purchased Tesla's full-self driving (FSD) software.

Mark Herman, a Harris County police officer, reportedly told Reuters that Musk’s tweet was the first officials had heard from Tesla.

"If he is tweeting that out, if he has already pulled the data, he hasn’t told us that. We will eagerly wait for that data," Herman was quoted by Reuters as saying.

Herman also reportedly said that evidence including witness statements clearly indicated there was nobody in the driver's seat of the Model S when it crashed into a tree and burst into flames. Both the occupants of the car were killed.

See Also: Tesla China Registrations Tripled YoY In March, Doubled Sequentially: CAIN Data

Why It Matters: Tesla has been drawing increasing attention over its vehicle safety. The Texas crash is the 28th Tesla accident to be investigated by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), according to the Reuters report. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is also investigating the crash.

Tesla's FSD is an advanced driver assistance system, while autopilot is part of all its vehicles. The Palo Alto-based company says its current Autopilot features “require active driver supervision and do not make the vehicle autonomous.”

Tesla’s vehicle safety report for the first quarter of 2021 has shown that the average distance per accident while driving on Autopilot has actually declined year-over-year. However, Musk has claimed that Tesla with Autopilot engaged is approaching a 10 times lower chance of accident than the average car.

Price Action: Tesla shares closed 3.4% lower in Monday’s regular trading session at $714.63, but rose 1% in the after-hours session to $721.78.

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