A fatal crash occurs during a test drive with a BMW vehicle in Baden-Württemberg. The police initially speak of an “autonomous e-test vehicle”. A detailed investigation now shows that the car was not able to drive itself at the time of the accident.
According to a review, a test car involved in a serious car accident in Baden-Württemberg on Monday was not driving autonomously. The electric vehicle was examined in the morning by order of the Tübingen public prosecutor, as the authority announced together with the police. The investigations showed that autonomous driving was not possible with the car at the time of the accident.
In addition to three accident experts, specialists from the Tübingen traffic police, the Stuttgart State Criminal Police Office and several accident research engineers from the vehicle manufacturer were involved in the review. Investigations into the cause continued.
A 43-year-old had caused the accident on Monday evening with the test vehicle on the federal highway 28 in the direction of Ulm. For reasons that are still unclear, the man entered the oncoming lane and struck an oncoming car. He collided with another car, which caught fire.
The car that caused the accident also collided with another vehicle. The collision was so violent that a 33-year-old passenger suffered fatal injuries. A total of nine drivers and passengers in the four vehicles, including a small child, sustained serious injuries.
In a statement after the accident, the police spoke explicitly of an “autonomous e-test vehicle” of the BMW iX type. "Our statement is based on the stickers on the vehicle that this is an autonomous e-test vehicle. We are in contact with BMW and an expert is determining whether it is such a vehicle or not," said a police spokesman .
A BMW spokesman said a little later about the accident car: "The vehicle has level 2 driver assistance systems, which are already installed in production vehicles and support the driver if desired. With level 2 vehicles, the driver remains Drivers are always responsible." Only in the case of highly automated vehicles from level 3 onwards can the driver fully delegate control to the vehicle under certain conditions.
