A runaway Tesla kills two people in China | Technology

A Tesla model Y lost control on November 5 in the streets of Chaozhou, in Guangdong province, and ran over two people, who died in the accident: a motorist and a student who was riding a bicycle. The event was recorded by the numerous security cameras in the Chinese city, in which it is seen that the car suddenly accelerates when it was about to park and travels at full speed for 2.6 kilometers. After hitting the second fatality, the car crashes into a store, thus ending its race.

The electric car maker, the star company of tycoon Elon Musk, has said in a statement that the vehicle’s brakes did not fail. The data taken from the car does not prove that the brake pedal was pressed before the first collision, the company says in statements collected by Bloomberg. Tesla also claims that the video shows that the brake lights did not come on at any time, and that, on the contrary, the accelerator was activated with force. The US company also expresses in the statement its intention to help the authorities in whatever is necessary to clarify the event.

Tesla cars have the option to navigate on autopilot, that is, without driver assistance, although it is not clear that this function was activated. According to sources cited by local media, the 55-year-old driver of the vehicle tested negative for alcohol and drugs. Relatives of the car owner also said that he had been complaining for some time that he had problems with the brake system.

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