Tesla says Autopilot not engaged during fatal Castro Valley crash

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Thursday, May 24, 2018
Tesla says Autopilot not engaged during fatal Castro Valley crash
The electric carmaker released a statement Wednesday about the fatal Tesla Model S crash that killed a Danville man last weekend.

CASTRO VALLEY, Calif. (KGO) -- Tesla says they have determined that Autopilot was not engaged when a driver crashed into a pond Sunday night in Castro Valley.

The electric carmaker released a statement Wednesday about the fatal Tesla Model S crash that killed a Danville man last weekend.

"We have been able to recover enough data from the vehicle to confirm that the autopilot was not engaged at the time of this accident," a Tesla spokesperson said.

The CHP is still investigating.

"We did see the statement they put out, but the bottom line is we still have a long and through investigation to do," said CHP spokesman Daniel Jakowitz.

RELATED: Driver identified after deadly crash into Castro Valley pond

Danville musician and chemical engineer Keith Leung was killed in the crash, his body found by an Alameda County Sheriff's dive team inside the blue Tesla Model S some 65 feet off shore. The car was discovered Sunday night off of Crow Canyon Road. Leung hadn't been seen since Saturday.

The CHP says they are still trying to determine if the driver was impaired or may have been speeding.

"Speed is always going to play a factor," said Jakowitz. "t's just a matter of how fast the vehicle was going before and at the time of the accident."

Tesla's Autopilot has been implicated in at least two fatal crashes and now two U.S. consumer groups are calling the name misleading, and are asking for change.

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