Tesla told the French government that there was no indication that a technical fault was to blame for a fatal accident that involved a Tesla Model 3 in Paris last weekend.
The car, an off-duty taxicab, was stopped at a red light when it suddenly accelerated, hitting and dragging a cyclist who later died, Reuters reports, citing police sources. The driver then said he attempted to turn into obstacles to slow the car down.
Along with the one fatality, the incident is being blamed for a further 20 injuries and the vehicle’s driver is being investigated for involuntary homicide. Although it is unclear if Autopilot was activated at the time of the accident, the automaker’s data, which has been handed over to the government, seems to suggest it was not a contributing factor here.
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Paris taxi firm suspends use of Tesla Model 3:Paris’ leading taxi company G7 suspended the use of Tesla Model 3 cars in its fleet after an accident involving one of the vehicles over the weekend killed one person and injured 20 others. pic.twitter.com/6ZRrufYtSd
— worldnews24u (@worldnews24u) December 15, 2021
“We have been in contact, of course, with Tesla’s management and they tell us that there is no technical problem to flag on their vehicles,” government spokesman Gabriel Attal told reporters.
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The government is still waiting on the results of an ongoing judicial investigation, though. Although Telsa has handed over data to the government, it has historically only provided information that governments ask for specifically. A research team in Holland, though, recently announced that it had decrypted the automaker’s driving data, which it said could be useful to forensic investigators. French sources say they have received relevant technical data, so they may choose not to leverage that ability.
Following the incident, the taxi company for which the Tesla driver worked as an independent contractor, G7, has suspended all 37 Model 3s in its fleet until a police investigation into the case is completed.
The U.S.A.’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration last year opened a formal review into hundreds of complaints about sudden acceleration in Tesla vehicles. The regulator, though, later said that it found no defects in Tesla’s systems and said that the accidents were caused by “pedal misapplication.”
