Another Tesla crash, another owner claims the EV “drove itself”

A Tesla driver in Pennsylvania has become the latest owner to allege that his vehicle “drove on its own” moments before it crashed into a support pillar outside a Victoria’s Secret store at the Tanger Outlets in Hershey on June 21. Sharada Naganur of Princeton, New Jersey, was the sole occupant of the 2026 Tesla when she told Derry Township police that the car suddenly jumped a curb, accelerated uncontrollably, and steered itself toward the outlet mall. According to the police report obtained by PennLive, Naganur said she had no control over the vehicle as it veered right, struck a small tree and three parked cars, then finally plowed into a support pillar outside the Victoria’s Secret storefront. No injuries were reported, and police confirmed that drugs or alcohol were not factors in the incident. However, investigators have not yet determined whether any Tesla driver-assistance system—such as Autopilot or Full Self-Driving—was active at the time of the crash. Tesla CEO Elon Musk and the company’s AI chief previously weighed in on a separate fatal incident in Texas, where a Model 3 allegedly operating under Autopilot crashed into a woman’s home at 73 mph (117 km/h). In that case, Tesla’s data reportedly showed the driver had the accelerator fully depressed throughout the event, contradicting early claims that Autopilot was responsible. This recurring pattern—where initial driver accounts conflict with vehicle telemetry—has fueled ongoing scrutiny of Tesla’s driver-assistance systems and their role in crashes. Police in Derry Township have not released a final determination on whether Autopilot or Full Self-Driving was engaged during the Pennsylvania incident, and no independent verification of Tesla’s data has been made public.