US magazine Consumer Reports said on Thursday its engineers were able to trick a Tesla into driving in the car's Autopilot mode — with no one at the wheel.

The publication's engineers were able to operate the vehicle with the car's inbuilt system failing to realize the driver's seat was empty.

The experiment comes just days after a Tesla crashed in Texas, killing the two men in the car. Authorities say neither of the victims were in the driver's seat when the car hit a tree just north of Houston.

Tesla's partially automated system can keep a car centered in its lane, whilst also maintaining a safe distance from vehicles in front, and can even change lanes — but Tesla has said the driver must be on hand to intervene at all times.

Consumer Reports, however, said that during several ventures on its closed tracks, with an empty driver's seat, the Tesla Model Y automatically steered along painted lane lines without recognizing that nobody was at the controls. The Tesla that crashed in Texas was a Model S, but also had an Autopilot function.

GM and Ford have more 'advanced technology'

"In our evaluation, the system not only failed to make sure the driver was paying attention, but it also couldn't tell if there was a driver there at all," said Jake Fisher, Consumer Reports' senior director of auto testing.

"The car drove up and down the half-mile lane of our track, repeatedly, never noting that no one was in the driver's seat, never noting that there was no one touching the steering wheel, never noting there was no weight on the seat,'' Fisher added.

And Tesla is lagging behind its rivals when it comes to driver protection, according to Fisher.

"Tesla is falling behind other automakers like GM and Ford that, on models with advanced driver assist systems, use technology to make sure the driver is looking at the road."

'Frightening'

"It was a bit frightening when we realized how easy it was to defeat the safeguards, which we proved were clearly insufficient," Fisher summed up.

US regulators are in the early stages of a probe into the Texas crash.

Local authorities said one man was found in the passenger seat, while another was in the back, after the car veered off the road, hit a tree and burst into flames.

jsi/rc (AP, Reuters, AFP, dpa)