Tesla has responded to the high-speed crash at a Texas family’s home, which killed an elderly woman, while the car was in self-driving mode, the driver claims.
Tesla leadership, including CEO Elon Musk, has denied that the car was driving itself.
The Gateway Pundit previously reported on the incident, where the driver claimed the Tesla Model 3 was in self-driving mode before flying through the front yard and plowing into the home.
76-year-old Martha Avila Mantilla, a grandmother, was killed in the crash.
WATCH:
Additional video from another residence shows the Tesla flying through the neighborhood before the collision.
Initial reporting suggested that law enforcement was investigating the driver’s claim that he was in autopilot mode at the time of the crash. The driver, 44-year-old Michael Butler, did not initially face charges.
Via ABC News:
However, Tesla founder and CEO Elon Musk said the claim that the car was in autopilot “makes no sense” as Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (FSD) feature “drives slowly through neighborhood streets and this was a high speed crash.”
Yes, this makes no sense. FSD drives slowly through neighborhood streets and this was a high speed crash!
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 22, 2026
Ashok Elluswamy, the director of Tesla’s Autopilot software and Vice President of artificial intelligence, replied, saying, “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. They reached a speed of 73 mph during the crash, and had the accelerator pressed even after the 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. They reached a speed of 73 mph during the crash, and had the accelerator pressed even after the crash.
— Ashok Elluswamy (@aelluswamy) June 22, 2026
Elluswamy further blasted early reports as “blatantly irresponsible”
“Planting such [Fear, uncertainty, and doubt] in the minds of general public, who might not know all the facts, might prevent them from using this technology that makes them safer,” he added, claiming that autonomous vehicles are “far safer than manual driving.”
This blatantly irresponsible reporting does more harm to people than they realize.
Using Tesla self-driving is far safer than manual driving, and this was measured over 10B miles.
Planting such FUD in the minds of general public, who might not know the all the facts, might…
— Ashok Elluswamy (@aelluswamy) June 22, 2026
Law enforcement is still investigating the incident, and as of Monday, no charges had been filed, according to ABC.
Jordan Conradson is The Gateway Pundit’s White House correspondent. Jordan has played a critical role in exposing fraud and corruption in Arizona’s elections and elected officials. His reporting on election crimes in Maricopa County led to the resignation of one election official, and he was later banned from the Maricopa County press room for his courage in pursuit of the truth. TGP and Jordan finally gained access after suing Maricopa County, America’s fourth largest county, and winning at the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals. Conradson looks forward to bringing his aggressive style of journalism to the Swamp.
You can email Jordan Conradson here, and read more of Jordan Conradson’s articles here.
Ad block users: Some site features may not work correctly while an ad blocker is enabled, because they break scripts and content this website depends on. If you can’t see comments below, for example, please disable your ad blocker.
