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Tesla unsure if Autopilot system reason for fiery Indianapolis crash that killed 2

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Tesla unsure if Autopilot system reason for fiery Indianapolis crash that killed 2
WATCH ABOVE: An Indianapolis resident describes seeing a Tesla vehicle "erratically" weave down a street before it crashed and caught fire, killing the driver and a passenger – Nov 4, 2016

Tesla Motors says it’s unlikely that its semi-autonomous Autopilot system was engaged when a Model S crashed in Indianapolis early Thursday morning, killing the driver and a passenger.

In a statement issued late Thursday, the electric car maker said it’s cooperating with Indianapolis police, who are investigating.

READ MORE: All Tesla cars will now have self-driving hardware

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Tesla said the car sustained so much damage that it didn’t transmit data to the company’s servers. That data would show if the driver had the car in Autopilot mode.

But the company said the system likely wasn’t engaged, because Autopilot would have limited the vehicle’s speed to less than 60 kilometres per hour on the street where the accident occurred. Witness statements and the damage to the car suggest the car was going faster than that, Tesla said.

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READ MORE: Tesla Autopilot getting ‘massive enhancement’ with radar boost

Witnesses reported the car was travelling “erratically” and “weaving” at a high rate of speed when it hit a tree, crashed into a building and caught fire, leaving a trail of burning battery components.

Authorities said the crash killed 27-year-old driver Casey Speckman and 44-year-old passenger Kevin McCarthy.

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