Tesla won the first U.S. trial over allegations that its Autopilot driver assistant feature led to a death, a major victory as it faces several other lawsuits.

Tesla wins first U.S. Autopilot trial involving fatal crash::Tesla won the first U.S. trial over allegations that its Autopilot driver assistant feature led to a death, a major victory as it faces several other lawsuits.

  • Fubarberry@sopuli.xyzEnglish
    20·
    1 year ago

    The highlights:

    "The case that concluded on Tuesday, in a California state court, was filed by two passengers in a 2019 crash who accused the company of knowing Autopilot was defective when it sold the car. Tesla argued human error caused the crash.

    The 12-member jury announced they found the vehicle did not have a manufacturing defect. The verdict came on the fourth day of deliberations, and the vote was 9-3.

    The civil lawsuit filed in Riverside County Superior Court alleged the Autopilot system caused owner Micah Lee’s Model 3 to suddenly veer off a highway east of Los Angeles at 65 miles per hour (105 km per hour), strike a palm tree and burst into flames, all in the span of seconds.

    The 2019 crash killed Lee and seriously injured his two passengers, including a then-8-year-old boy who was disemboweled, court documents show. The trial involved gruesome testimony about the passengers’ injuries, and the plaintiffs asked the jury for $400 million plus punitive damages.

    Tesla denied liability, saying Lee consumed alcohol before getting behind the wheel. The electric-vehicle maker also argued it was unclear whether Autopilot was engaged at the time of the crash.

    In [other Tesla autopilot] lawsuits, plaintiffs allege Autopilot is defectively designed, leading drivers to misuse the system. The jury in Riverside, however, was only asked to evaluate whether a manufacturing defect impacted the steering."

      • meco03211@lemmy.worldEnglish
        34·
        1 year ago

        One source says his BAC was 0.05%. California’s legal limit is 0.08%. That doesn’t exclude it from being a factor, just pointing out the guy wasn’t blitzed out of his mind or anything.

        The part about being unclear if AP was engaged is quite suspect though, given they have been able to definitively say in other crashes whether it was on or off and even if it had been disengaged moments prior to the accident.

      • Fubarberry@sopuli.xyzEnglish
        11·
        1 year ago

        Pure speculation, but I’m guessing the wreck + vehicle fire may have destroyed any computers/logs.

        Assuming that there’s an actual valid reason that it’s unclear whether the vehicle was in autopilot or not.

        • joemo@lemmy.sdf.orgEnglish
          23·
          1 year ago

          I would hope that for a new piece of technology (EVs are still new imo) that they would find a robust way to keep track of any logs. If you make a car and the second it is in an accident all the logs disappear, then what’s the point? I’d consider that negligence.