Tesla has informed regulators about the fatal crash, which involved an Autopilot-driven Model S, nine days after the accident.
The company affirms that the delay in communication is far from unusual. In fact, the carmaker drove a massive stock sale 11 days after the fatality occurred, noting that the federal investigation had not reached its end when the transaction happened.
The automaker was notified "shortly" after the accident that took the life of Joshua Brown, the driver of the Autopilot driven Model S, happened.
Fortune has published an article questioning the timing between the deadly accident and the stock sale. The report said that 11 days after the crash happened, a three-part stock sale worth more than $2 billion took place, without Tesla Motors saying a word about the crash. The distribution of the stocks was two parts Tesla and one part Elon Musk, the company's helm.
"Tesla and Musk did not disclose the very material fact that a man had died while using an auto-pilot technology," Fortune said.
Musk has answered Fortune in an email, wherein he explains that the crash was irrelevant to the value of Tesla as a company. He went on to add that, statistically speaking, drivers of traditional cars are in a much higher fatality danger when compared to Tesla drivers.
"[A]pproximately half a million people would have been saved if the Tesla autopilot was universally available," Musk points out. He also urged reporters to take a look at the numbers before writing possible misleading articles.
Tesla notes in a recent statement that it reported the incident to the government by May 16.
Reuters has questioned Tesla on the delay, to which the company replied that no automaker shares the detail of each accident with the regulators. Tesla also underlined that the investigation was underway until the end of May, making any statements it could have made premature, at best.
The unfortunate event happened on a freeway in Florida, where Brown's 2015 Tesla Model S autopilot failed to recognize a white tractor trailer in bright day conditions, causing the it to crash into as the latter turned at an intersection. Brown's car went under the trailer and had its roof ripped off.
In the public disclosure of the case that happened on June 30, the company sent its condolences to Brown's family.
"The customer who died in this crash had a loving family and we are beyond saddened by their loss," Tesla writes. The company acknowledges that Brown "was a friend to Tesla" and a strong member of the electric vehicle community. The company mentions that Brown "spent his life focused on innovation," a thing that Tesla puts amid its highest missions.
At the end of the statement, Tesla sent out its "deepest sympathies to his family and friends." It is unknown whether or not Brown's family will take Tesla to court because of the accident.
On another subject, Tesla has seen better days, as the company recently announced that it missed its delivery and production goals for the second consecutive quarter.
