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Tesla wins lawsuit over fatal “Autopilot” accident
November 1, 2023, 8:12 a.m
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Tesla’s “autopilot” isn’t actually one, it’s just a driving assistant. After a fatal accident in California due to a possible manufacturing defect, the electric car manufacturer is confronted with several lawsuits – Tesla wins the first.
Tesla has won the first lawsuit in the USA over a fatal accident involving its “Autopilot” driving assistance system. A majority of the jury concluded that the vehicle had no manufacturing defect. The ruling is an important victory for the electric car maker, which faces several similar lawsuits in the United States.
The case before a Californian court involved an accident involving a Tesla Model 3. The car left the road on a highway in 2019 at 105 kilometers per hour, hit a palm tree and burst into flames. The driver, Micah Lee, was killed and two passengers were seriously injured. The passengers sued Tesla, accusing the carmaker of knowing when it sold the vehicle that the “autopilot” and other safety systems were faulty.
When Lee bought the Tesla package with all self-driving capabilities for his Model 3 in 2019 for $6,000, the system was still in beta and therefore not ready for general use. Tesla argued that human error caused the accident. Lee drank alcohol before getting behind the wheel. It is also unclear whether the “autopilot” was switched on at the time of the accident. After four days of deliberations, nine of the twelve jurors voted for Tesla.
However, because the jury’s decision was very narrow – the jury had to consider whether there was a manufacturing defect in a particular Tesla vehicle, rather than a problem with the overall system design – the impact on future litigation is likely to be limited.
The “autopilot,” which is available for vehicles built after 2014, is intended to assist the driver with certain tasks, such as navigating within a lane on the highway and maintaining a safe distance from other vehicles. The vehicles cannot drive autonomously and Tesla reminds drivers to stay alert and keep their hands on the steering wheel.