Feb. 13 (Bloomberg) -- A test driver for Porsche SE was killed when the ``super sports-car'' prototype he was driving crashed into a barrier on Germany's A5 autobahn, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reported.

The man, 51, died at the scene of the accident south of Frankfurt early Friday, the newspaper said. A second Porsche test driver following in another prototype was able to avoid the first car and come to a safe stop.

A Porsche test engineer was killed on the autobahn early Friday morning during a round-the-clock test while at behind the wheel of a next-generation 911 Cabriolet prototype. The 25-year veteran tester was part of a three-man driving team that operated in shifts around the clock.

While the cause of the accident is not yet known and the victim has not been named, what is understood is that the 51-year-old driver's car slid under the center guardrail around 2:40 am on the A5 autobahn between Frankfurt and Heidelberg. Porsche spokesman Dirk Erat says that the car was not taking part in a high-speed test, as those are not carried out on public roads.