Driver saved himself

Tesla sank in Lake Traunsee after an accident

The Tesla was recovered by divers.(Bild: Klemens Fellner)

Shortly after midday on Monday, an electric car sank in Lake Traunsee (Upper Austria) after it left the road. The emergency services are currently working to recover the car, which was several meters under water. This was probably caused by the car's autopilot.

"The driver was able to save himself," is the initial report from the helpers who were called to the scene of the accident near Traunstein.

At around 1.20 pm, a 45-year-old Czech man from the Ried district was driving his Tesla on Traunstein Straße in the direction of Traunstein Umkehrplatz. According to the 45-year-old, he had activated the autopilot in the vehicle, which suddenly recognized an obstacle that was not on the road and initiated emergency braking. After the emergency braking, the vehicle accelerated again.

Steering wheel twisted
Due to the considerable increase in speed of the electric vehicle, the driver was startled and jerked the steering wheel to the right, causing the vehicle to drive over the narrow grass verge there and plunge into the Traunsee. The driver was able to free himself from the sinking vehicle uninjured.

Operation with divers
While the police took over the accident investigation, the Gmunden fire department alerted the firefighters from the Traunkirchen and Steyrermühl fire brigades, as they also have important equipment for underwater rescue and also have divers in their ranks. In addition, the water rescue team from Gmunden supported the operation with divers. The Tesla was rescued from a depth of five meters.

No environmental hazard
No environmental pollution is currently expected, as electric vehicles only use a small amount of liquid fuels such as oil. As the car was under water, there should also be no risk of fire from the batteries.