Authorities investigating an accident that sent two people to the hospital after a Tesla crashed through the front of a Katy, Texas, home. Authorities investigating an accident that sent two people to the hospital after a Tesla crashed through the front of a Katy, Texas, home. The US government has opened a second federal investigation into a recent crash of a Tesla that reportedly had driver-assistance technology engaged, struck a Texas home and killed a resident. Meanwhile, the family of Martha Avila, the 76-year-old resident who was killed, has sued over the wreck . The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said on Wednesday that it was launching an investigation into the 19 June crash that killed Avila in the Houston suburb of Katy.

Elon Musk on Monday panned a pilot version of an advanced driver-assistance feature Tesla Inc. is developing, a week after U.S. car-safety regulators opened a probe into a more basic iteration of the company's driving aide. The statement amounts to a public concession by the Tesla CEO of a shortcoming in a driver-assistance feature designed to help vehicles steer through urban areas. The feature, available on a relatively small number of vehicles as part of a pilot program, is part of what Tesla calls Full Self-Driving, or FSD, technology. "FSD Beta 9.2 is actually not great," Mr. Musk said via Twitter, adding the company "is rallying to improve as fast as possible." Tesla vehicles come equipped with driver-assistance technology the company calls Autopilot.

Each year, thousands of people lose their lives crossing the street. When drivers don't expect to see pedestrians, sometimes they just don't see them, even though they're there. Other times, pedestrians make poor choices, like crossing the road in the dark, which leads to accidents and, sometimes, tragic deaths. One of the key selling points for future AVs as well as today's connected vehicle-safety systems is that they're safer than human drivers driving without help. However, a new study suggests the industry still has a way to go before this is truly the case.