[Nacdor]

> “[Investigators] are 100-percent certain that no one was in the driver seat driving that vehicle at the time of impact,” Harris County Precinct 4 Constable Mark Herman said. “They are positive.”

This would only be possible if they were using the autopilot feature.

> the fire service did not know how to deal with the fire.

Tesla's advice is "let it burn":

> Tesla’s guidance suggests it’s better to let the fire burn out than continuing to try to put it out.

[dragonwriter]

> This would only be possible if they were using the autopilot feature.

I thought autopilot had a safety feature to prevent no-driver operation, though there is a “SmartSummon” feature intended for parking lots which does not (but requires continuous press of a fob button.) So, there’s no way this should be possible, absent a major malfunction to even allow self-driving in the reported condition.

[Nacdor]

According to multiple Tesla owners in another thread, Autopilot will continue to drive as long as the seatbelt is buckled. There doesn't need to be weight in the driver's seat.