Four die when their Tesla electric vehicle catches fire following a freak accident

Four people were killed in a freak accident late Saturday Tesla EV They were traveling and burst into flames after an accident. AFP reports that the accident occurred outside the French town of Niort. The reasons for the crash have yet to be clarified by French authorities, but initial investigations revealed that the Tesla was traveling at high speed and hit some road signs before crashing. “An investigation has been launched to determine the causes and circumstances of the fatal accident, an investigation that will request expert reports on the vehicle,” a local judge told AFP.

The four occupants of the Tesla electric vehicle who died in the accident were employees of a nearby restaurant. Police told AFP that all passengers in the car were dead before rescuers arrived at the scene. It is not yet confirmed whether the driver of the Tesla involved in this accident was using the car’s Autopilot function. Tesla’s self-driving system has come under scrutiny in the past.

AFP reports that Tesla recently settled a lawsuit with the family of an engineer who was killed when his Model X crashed into a concrete median on a California highway. The engineer was using Tesla’s Autopilot feature when this incident occurred. The electric vehicle maker recently recalled two million vehicles in the U.S. and Canada due to safety issues with its Autopilot software. AFP reports that US regulators reported that the problem may have “increased the risk of a collision.”

(Source: AFP)