Tesla Car Crash: In a rare legal blow to Elon Musk’s Tesla, a federal jury in Miami has ordered the company to pay 243 million dollars in damages for a fatal crash involving its Autopilot driver assistance system, according to a BBC report. Court records show that the jury awarded 200 million dollars in punitive damages, along with 59 million dollars to the family of Naibel Benavides Leon and 70 million dollars to her boyfriend, Dillon Angulo.
The case stems from a tragic late night accident in 2019 on a dark road in Key Largo, Florida. The jury found that Tesla’s Autopilot system was partly responsible for the crash that killed 22-year-old Naibel Benavides Leon and seriously injured her boyfriend, Dillon Angulo, after a Tesla Model 3 slammed into them while they were stargazing by the roadside.
Meanwhile, Tesla plans to appeal the verdict, according to its defense attorneys. The company said the verdict is wrong and only serves to set back automotive safety, while putting at risk both Tesla’s and the entire industry’s efforts to develop and implement life-saving technology.
This ruling marks a setback for Tesla and CEO Elon Musk, who has promoted self-driving technology as a key part of the company’s future. On the market front, Tesla shares dropped following the news, closing nearly 2 percent lower in the US markets. On the other hand, the victims’ lawyers have accused Tesla of hiding or losing key evidence, including video footage and data recorded just seconds before the crash.
Following the verdict, the plaintiffs’ attorneys stated that Mr. Musk had misled the public about what Tesla’s Autopilot driver assistance software could actually do. According to the attorney Brett Schreiber’s statement in BBC, “Tesla designed Autopilot only for controlled-access highways yet deliberately chose not to restrict drivers from using it elsewhere, alongside Elon Musk telling the world Autopilot drove better than humans,”
Earlier, it settled a lawsuit over a 2018 crash that killed an Apple engineer after his Model X collided with a highway barrier while operating the company’s Autopilot software. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) launched an investigation in 2021 into potential safety issues with Tesla’s Autopilot system. During the investigation, Tesla made several changes, including rolling out over-the-air software updates.
Adding further, the NHTSA also warned Tesla that some of its social media posts could mislead drivers into believing their cars can operate as fully autonomous robotaxis. This goes against the guidance in Tesla’s own owner manuals, which state that drivers must keep their hands on the wheel and remain attentive to steering and braking at all times.
