{"schema_version":"0.10.0","id":"LR-2026-0633","record_version":1,"title":"Tesla Robotaxi remote operator crash into tree stump, Houston (May)","verification":{"human_verified":false,"method":"automated_gate","auto_verified":true,"score":53.7,"score_breakdown":{"source_authority":12.1,"independent_corroboration":15.0,"implicated_party_confirmed":0.0,"citation_integrity":14.0,"specificity":3.0,"completeness":1.92,"unhedged_language":5.0},"checks":{"schema_valid":true,"every_field_cited":true,"quotes_verbatim":true,"source_fetched":true,"distinct_incident":true,"dates_plausible":true,"sources_agree":true,"source_describes_incident":true,"severe_backed_by_source":true,"record_integrity":true,"eligible":true,"about_this_case":true},"gate_version":"gate-2026-10-18.7","cross_check_model":null,"cross_check_agreement":null,"duplicate_of":null,"verified_by":null,"verified_at":"2026-11-01","extraction_run_id":null,"evidence_level":{"level":"preliminary","reason":"Publisher not yet named · subject to change","original_document":null,"reports_total":2,"reports_independent":0,"reports_derivative":0,"developing":false,"disputed":false,"rules_version":"evidence-2026-10-29.1","computed_at":"2026-11-01","history":[{"date":"2026-11-01","from_level":null,"to_level":"preliminary","reason":"Publisher not yet named · subject to change"}]},"sources_hash":"c8e5d17a93f8eb9d724570dfd3b9bbf7a05854ba6be224b6b8bbea544c00060c"},"system":{"model_name":null,"model_version":null,"developer":"Tesla","harness":null,"tools_granted":[],"permissions_scope":null,"autonomy_level":"unknown","guardrails_present":[],"deployment_context":"unknown","tier":null,"lifecycle_stage":null,"integration_type":null,"intended_use":null,"safeguard_state":null,"production_intended":null},"event":{"date_occurred":null,"date_disclosed":"2026-07-20","incident_class":"operational_error","failure_class":null,"agent_involved":null,"secondary_failure_classes":[],"trigger":"unknown","duration":null,"detection_method":"unknown","summary":"A Tesla Model Y operating in the Robotaxi service in Houston was stopped on a dead end residential road when it needed help getting out. While the system was being supported remotely out of the road, the vehicle entered a grassy slope. As the remote operator continued to recover the vehicle, it made contact with a hidden tree stump. The damage was minor, with no injuries and a pre-crash speed of 2 mph. Tesla filed the crash with NHTSA and listed the operator type as remote, the first time it has done so across its 22 unique ADS reports. The filing was one of four Robotaxi crash reports Tesla submitted to NHTSA in this batch.","tags":[],"date_detected":null,"near_miss":null,"root_cause":null,"root_cause_detail":null,"failure_class_detail":null,"responsible_party":null,"adversarial_actor":null,"input_provenance":null,"time_to_contain":null,"operations_paused":null,"remediation":null,"precursor_events":null},"impact":{"direct_loss_usd":null,"remediation_hours":null,"records_exposed":null,"third_parties_affected_count":null,"severity":"minor","harm_class":[],"affected_description":null,"protected_class_involved":null,"data_categories_exposed":[],"loss_range_usd":null,"reversibility":null,"downstream_exposure_count":null},"evidence":{"sources":[{"url":"https://electrek.co/2026/07/20/tesla-robotaxi-remote-operator-crash-houston/","publisher":"Electrek","date":"2026-07-20","type":"press","title":"Tesla remote operator crashed a ‘Robotaxi’ in Houston, NHTSA data shows - Electrek","archived_url":null,"attachment":"first_report"},{"url":"https://mezha.ua/en/news/tesla-robotaxi-crash-with-remote-operator-313443/","publisher":"Mezha","date":"2026-07-21","type":"press","title":"Tesla has acknowledged for the first time that remote control was in use during the Robotaxi accident - Mezha","archived_url":null}],"per_field_confidence":{"system.developer":"C","event.incident_class":"D","impact.severity":"D","event.summary":"C","system.autonomy_level":"D","system.deployment_context":"D","event.trigger":"D","event.detection_method":"D","context.country":"D","event.date_disclosed":"D","context.denominator_available":"D"},"field_citations":{"system.developer":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"Tesla has filed four new “Robotaxi” crash reports with NHTSA, and the most revealing one involves a Tesla remote operator driving the vehicle into a tree stump in Houston."}],"event.incident_class":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"All three follow the same pattern: the autonomous system gets stuck, a human takes over remotely, and the human crashes the car."}],"impact.severity":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"The damage was minor — property damage only, no injuries, no airbag deployment, no tow, and a pre-crash speed of 2 mph."}],"event.summary":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"According to Tesla’s own narrative, the Model Y “was stopped on a dead end residential road” when it needed help getting out."},{"source_index":0,"quote":"While the ADS was being supported remotely out of the dead end road, the vehicle entered a grassy slope,"},{"source_index":0,"quote":"As the remote assistance operator continued to recover the vehicle, they made contact with a hidden tree stump."},{"source_index":0,"quote":"The damage was minor — property damage only, no injuries, no airbag deployment, no tow, and a pre-crash speed of 2 mph."},{"source_index":0,"quote":"Tesla listed the Driver/Operator Type as “Remote (Commercial / Test),” the first time it has done so in any of its 22 unique ADS incident reports."},{"source_index":0,"quote":"Tesla has filed four new “Robotaxi” crash reports with NHTSA, and the most revealing one involves a Tesla remote operator driving the vehicle into a tree stump in Houston."}]},"notes_on_gaps":"The year of the Houston incident is not stated (only May), so date_occurred is omitted. The date of disclosure is not stated; the Electrek article date of 2026-07-20 is not used as a disclosure date. Date detected, detection method, trigger, root cause, responsible party, adversarial actor and failure class are not stated by the sources and are omitted. No control is stated as held, failed, got around or missing in this incident, so links are empty. No remediation was reported, so remediations are empty. Impact severity minor is my judgement from the stated minor property-only damage and no injuries. Harm class operational is my judgement. Deployment context production is inferred from active vehicles in a launched city. The country US is inferred from the NHTSA filing and Houston location. Electrek commentary and Waymo comparisons concern other companies or opinion and are excluded. Tesla's own narrative on the vehicle stopping is quoted as stated and the Electrek note on a backing contradiction concerns a different (Austin) report and is excluded. [case created by the backfill: read by claude-haiku-5-5, backfill-2026-11-01.2, 2026-11-01; not yet reviewed] [2026-11-01: evidence level set: Preliminary (Publisher not yet named · subject to change)]"},"context":{"industry":null,"org_size_band":null,"country":"unknown","denominator_available":false,"denominator":null,"related_incident_ids":[],"systemic_exposure":null,"shared_model_id":null,"upstream_incident_id":null,"incident_evidence":null,"regulatory":null,"coverage":null},"narrative":{"steps":[{"step":"reached","text":"The remote assistance operator made contact with a hidden tree stump while recovering the vehicle.","quote":"As the remote assistance operator continued to recover the vehicle, they made contact with a hidden tree stump.","source_index":0,"grade":"C"},{"step":"caught","text":"Tesla reported the crash to NHTSA in a crash report.","quote":"Tesla has filed four new “Robotaxi” crash reports with NHTSA, and the most revealing one involves a Tesla remote operator driving the vehicle into a tree stump in Houston.","source_index":0,"grade":"C"},{"step":"done","text":"Damage was minor and property only, with no injuries and no tow.","quote":"The damage was minor — property damage only, no injuries, no airbag deployment, no tow, and a pre-crash speed of 2 mph.","source_index":0,"grade":"C"}],"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"backfill-2026-11-01.2","extracted_at":"2026-11-01","source_urls":["https://electrek.co/2026/07/20/tesla-robotaxi-remote-operator-crash-houston/","https://mezha.ua/en/news/tesla-robotaxi-crash-with-remote-operator-313443/"]}}