Hans von Ohain tragically died in 2022, when his Tesla Model 3 veered off a mountain road in Colorado and crashed into a tree. His wife told The Washington Post that she feels her family was a „guinea pig“ for Elon’s technology.

Ohain’s friend Erik Rositer, who was in the car at the time of the crash, survived. Rositer said that Ohain was using Tesla’s self-driving feature and that the vehicle „just went off the road,“ according to the agency.

If what Rositer said is true, this incident, which Tesla refuses to publicly acknowledge, would be the first known fatality associated with the company’s self-driving technology.

While Ohain was intoxicated at the time of the accident, with a blood alcohol level three times over the legal limit, investigators found that the incident was not a typical drunk driving accident. There were no skid marks indicating an attempt to brake before the impact, and at the scene of the accident there were „tracks of rolling wheels,“ meaning that the energy was still distributed to the wheels after the crash.

„With the dynamics of the crash and how the vehicle left the road, with no evidence of an abrupt maneuver, that all fits with the autopilot feature being activated,“ Colorado State Patrol Sergeant Robert Maden reported.

Maden also described the subsequent fire that engulfed the car as one of the „most intense“ vehicle fires he had come across, largely due to the lithium-ion battery cells located in the bottom of the Tesla.

It was determined that Ohain’s cause of death was not the impact with the tree but rather inhaling smoke and thermal injuries. He likely would have survived the crash if it weren’t for the intense flames.

Nora Bas, Ohain’s widow, told The Post that her husband was so committed to Elon Musk’s vision of the future of autonomous vehicles that he was willing to endure an untested experience to help improve Tesla’s self-driving technology.

But since Tesla has so far remained silent about Ohain’s death, the widow told the media that she believes she and her husband were merely „guinea pigs“ who „ironed out“ the shortcomings of the technology with the false promise of safety.

„Regardless of how drunk Hans was, Musk claimed that this car could drive itself and was fundamentally better than a person. We were sold a false sense of security,“ she said.

Tesla’s disclaimer of responsibility for its current self-driving technology reads: „Autopilot, enhanced autopilot and full self-driving are intended for use with a fully attentive driver, who has their hands on the steering wheel and is prepared to take control at any moment. While these functions are designed to become more capable over time, currently enabled functions do not make the vehicle autonomous.“

Tesla’s full self-driving is still in beta testing.

There have been numerous crashes – some fatal – associated with Tesla’s autopilot technology, designed for use on highways, although Tesla has been found not responsible for the accidents. However, the Full Self-Driving technology has never been connected to any deaths, so Ohain’s death could be the first known one associated with that technology, according to Business Insider.