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.
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.
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."
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Tesla will win the rest also. The only “defect” I can think of is if it failed to disengage when driver input was detected.
The passengers in the car died, so what makes the complainants think that it was even engaged or especially that it failed?
This just reeks of family members looking for an opportunity to exploit their loss for a payday.
Still a good thing to test shit in court, no?
…no? It’s a waste of the court’s time.
It’s what courts are for homie.
Courts are for investigating legitimate causes of harm, dawg.