Elon Musk's tweets spur authorities to serve search warrant on Tesla crash data
Elon Musk's tweets regarding the Tesla car crash may be raising more questions about the accident than they're answering.
Authorities are investigating a fatal weekend crash in Spring, Texas, involving a Tesla vehicle that apparently had no driver. Musk, the CEO/Technoking of Tesla, stated in a Monday night tweet that the company had already ruled out the use of the autopilot system via data logs recovered from the accident.
But Harris County Constable Precinct 4's Mark Herman told Reuters that Tesla has not informed him of any data relevant to the accident. "If he is tweeting that out, if he has already pulled the data, he hasn't told us that," said Herman. "We will eagerly wait for that data."
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Immediately before the crash, Musk tweeted accident data stating that Tesla's Autopilot feature makes its vehicles 10 times less likely to be involved in an accident than the average vehicle. After the accident, Musk tweeted that Autopilot relies on roads with lane lines, which were missing from the road where the accident took place.
Musk's tweets have previously gotten him and Tesla into some hot water, and this latest tweet has apparently sparked a search warrant. Reuters reports that Texas police will follow up on his Twitter claims by serving search warrants to secure the data from Tesla.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
Laura Lippman's 6 favorite books for those who crave a high-stakes adventure
Feature The Grand Master recommends works by E.L. Konigsburg, Charles Portis, and more
-
Book reviews: 'Bad Company: Private Equity and the Death of the American Dream' and 'Desi Arnaz: The Man Who Invented Television'
Feature Private equity and the man who created 'I Love Lucy' get their close-ups
-
Can Texas redistricting save the US House for the GOP?
Today's Big Question Trump pushes a 'ruthless' new plan, but it could backfire
-
What is Linda Yaccarino's legacy? And what's next for X?
Today's Big Question An 'uncertain future' in the age of TikTok
-
Nvidia hits $4 trillion milestone
Speed Read The success of the chipmaker has been buoyed by demand for artificial intelligence
-
X CEO Yaccarino quits after two years
Speed Read Elon Musk hired Linda Yaccarino to run X in 2023
-
Musk chatbot Grok praises Hitler on X
Speed Read Grok made antisemitic comments and referred to itself as 'MechaHitler'
-
Another Starship blast sets back Musk's Mars hopes
Speed Read Nobody was killed in the explosion, which occurred in south Texas
-
Disney, Universal sue AI firm over 'plagiarism'
Speed Read The studios say that Midjourney copied characters from their most famous franchises
-
What Elon Musk's Grok AI controversy reveals about chatbots
In the Spotlight The spread of misinformation is a reminder of how imperfect chatbots really are
-
Elon Musk's SpaceX has created a new city in Texas
Under The Radar Starbase is home to SpaceX's rocket launch site