Man killed in horror 100mph Tesla crash when ‘autopilot’ car smashed into tree and burst into flames
It took fire crews hours to retrieve man's body over fears they would be electrocuted
A MAN died in a horror smash when a Tesla 'autopilot' car ploughed into a tree at almost 100mph and burst into flames in the Netherlands.
It took firefighters more than five hours to remove his body from the high-tech electric vehicle after the battery split open and caught fire and crews feared they could be electrocuted.
Wreckage from the Tesla Model S saloon was strewn across the road after the high speed crash in Baarn, 25 miles east of Amsterdam.
Officials were investigating the cause of the accident today - but Tesla said its data showed the Autopilot self-driving technology was not being used at the time.
The US manufacturer said in a statement: "Thus far, we can confirm from the car's logs that Autopilot was not engaged at any time during the drive cycle and that, consistent with the damage that was observed after the vehicle struck the tree, the vehicle was being driven at more than 155 km an hour (96mph)."
The statement added: "Our thoughts go out to the family. We are working with the authorities to establish the full facts surrounding the accident."
Dutch media reported the man killed yesterday was 53 and from the town of Hilversum.
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Fire department spokesman Ronald Boer said that due to the nature and severity of the wreckage, firefighters could not be certain whether the car might be under high voltage.
Newspaper De Telegraaf reported the car's battery was broken, and part of it caught fire and was difficult to extinguish.
Part of the battery remained inside the car, the paper said, leading to the fears of electrocution.
Specialists from Tesla's offices in the south of the country were called in for advice, arriving five hours after the crash.
The scene was judged safe and the man's body was then cut free from the wreck.
It was the second fatal crash involving a Tesla Model S after former US Navy Seal Joshua Brown was killed in Florida on May 7.
He was watching a Harry Potter film when the car's computer reportedly failed to apply the brakes as it slammed into a truck.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is investigating that incident, believed to be the first fatality involving a self-driving car.
Tesla is also probing an incident in France in August when a Model S sedan caught fire during a test drive in the southwestern town of Bayonne.
US federal regulators also recorded two fires involving the Model S, one each in the US states of Washington and Tennessee in 2013.
In both cases, the cars involved hit debris on the road that pierced the chassis and caused a battery fire.
In July gallery owner Albert Scaglione survived when his Tesla Model X electric car veered into a motorway's central reservation and flipped over while driving on Autopilot mode in Pennsylvania.
Tesla, founded by PayPal billionaire Elon Musk, has cautioned that the autopilot system is not a fully autonomous system and drivers should be at the wheel and in control.
The system allows the vehicle to automatically change lanes, maintain a set speed and brake to avoid a collision. The driver can override the system by using the normal controls.
Internet giant Google is also testing self-driving cars, and Swedish car maker Volvo will begin tests of a driverless motor on public roads around London next year.
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