Three people died in a wrong-way driver accident on the A38 near Leinefelde-Worbis in northern Thuringia on Tuesday.
One of the cars was going in the wrong direction, said the highway police in Nordhausen.
There was initially no information on the identity of the victims.
The autobahn was initially closed in both directions after the accident on Tuesday afternoon.
The suspected cause of the accident had driven his car on the lane leading to Leipzig in the afternoon, but in the direction of Göttingen.
According to initial findings, the man had driven from a parking lot in the wrong direction onto the freeway.
According to the information, after three kilometers there was a collision with another car in which, according to the highway police, two people were sitting.
The three occupants of the two cars were killed in the collision.
One of the cars was so badly damaged that firefighters had to cut open the car with heavy equipment before the victims could be rescued.