Tesla driver killed after colliding with a firetruck

Tesla, Inc. is a worldwide American corporation with offices in Austin, Texas, that specialises in clean energy, artificial intelligence, and automobiles. Tesla creates and manufactures solar panels, solar roof tiles, electric vehicles (electric cars and trucks), residential and grid-scale battery energy storage, and other associated goods and services. One of the most valuable firms in the world, Tesla will be the most valuable automobile by 2023. With 21% of the battery-electric (pure electric) market and 14% of the plug-in market, the firm sold the most battery electric and plug-in electric vehicles globally in 2021. (which includes plug-in hybrids).

The business creates and installs a significant amount of photovoltaic systems in the US through its subsidiary Tesla Energy. With 3.99 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of deployed battery energy storage systems in 2021, Tesla Energy is also among the biggest suppliers of such systems globally.

Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning established Tesla Motors in July 2003. Nikola Tesla, an inventor and electrical engineer, is honoured in the corporate name. After a $6.5 million investment in February 2004, Elon Musk rose to the position of the company's largest shareholder. He assumed the position as CEO in 2008. Musk claims that Tesla's goal is to hasten the transition to environmentally friendly energy and transportation, using solar energy and electric vehicles as the primary sources. The Roadster sports car, which was Tesla's first vehicle model, entered manufacturing in 2009.

Model S sedan, Model X SUV, Model 3 sedan, Model Y crossover, and Tesla Semi truck were released after this in 2012, 2015, 2017, and 2020, respectively. In 2023, the business intends to begin manufacturing the Cybertruck light-duty pickup truck. The Model 3 was the first electric vehicle to sell 1 million units globally in June 2021, making it the all-time best-selling plug-in electric vehicle globally. Tesla delivered almost 1.31 million automobiles for the entire 2022 calendar year, a 40% increase over the prior year, and as of August 2022, the company had sold 3 million vehicles overall. Tesla became the sixth corporation in American history to have a market valuation of $1 trillion when it did so in October 2021.

According to fire officials, a Tesla slammed into a fire truck that was stationed on a Northern California motorway to protect a crew clearing another accident, killing the driver and badly injuring a passenger.

According to assistant chief of the Contra Costa County Fire Protection District Tracie Dutter, four firemen who were inside the vehicle when it was struck on Interstate 680 were treated for minor wounds.

According to Dutter, the driver was pronounced deceased at the site. To get the passenger out of the automobile and into the hospital, it had to be sliced open.

Pictures revealed the ladder truck, worth $1.4 million, and the car's front end were both smashed.

Officer Adam Lane of the California Highway Patrol said it was unclear whether the Tesla Model S was automated or equipped with driving assistance capabilities, or whether the driver may have been under the influence of alcohol.

The way Tesla's Autopilot technology recognises and reacts to emergency vehicles parked on roads is currently being investigated by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. While utilising the technology, at least 14 Teslas have collided with emergency vehicles.

In order to protect first responders to an earlier accident that did not result in injuries, the vehicle was stopped diagonally across the northbound lanes of the interstate with its lights on, according to Dutter.

About four in the morning, a deadly collision happened, and it took several hours to clear the motorway. It was necessary to tow the firetruck away.

Tesla recalled around 363,000 vehicles on Thursday due to potential issues with its "Full Self-Driving" system, including the Model S. While the recall is intended to address potential issues with speed limits and junctions, it coincides with a wider probe of Tesla's automated driving systems by U.S. safety regulators.