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Accident site on the B28 near Römerstein
Photo: Kaczor / dpa
A test vehicle involved in a serious accident in the Swabian Alb on Monday was never able to drive independently.
This was announced by the public prosecutor's office and the police on Wednesday after an examination of the test vehicle, in which three experts, specialists from the Tübingen traffic police and the LKA and engineers from the manufacturer BMW were involved.
In the first reports on the incident, the police had announced that the vehicle responsible was an "autonomous e-test vehicle".
The statement was apparently made because of a corresponding labeling of the BMW iX.
The investigators had later restricted the information.
The investigation has now shown that "at the time of the accident no autonomous driving was possible," it said.
In the accident on the B28 near Römerstein in the Reutlingen district, one person died and nine people were seriously injured.
According to the authorities, investigations into the cause of the accident are ongoing.
The data read from the test vehicle would have to be evaluated and its driver would also have to be heard, said a spokesman.
Several people in the crashed test vehicle
According to the police, the 43-year-old driver of the test car was traveling with four other people on Monday.
In a curve, the car came into the oncoming lane and grazed a car.
It then crashed head-on into another car.
This vehicle also left the roadway and immediately caught fire.
The test car also collided with another car.
The 33-year-old passenger in the car suffered fatal injuries.
According to the police, there were two men aged 31 and 47, a 42-year-old and a one-and-a-half-year-old child in the test vehicle next to the driver.
Like the other people involved in the accident, they were taken to hospital with serious injuries.
fek/dpa/AFP
