Tesla’s Autopilot is under scrutiny in a rare jury trial

Tesla is in trial in Miami today in a case that accuses Elon Musk’s responsibility company in a fatal accident involving the automatic pilot. The driver’s assistance system has been examined in the past for a number of fatal incidents, but Tesla has rarely faced a jury for the question of whether the automatic driver was at fault for someone’s death.

The test arrives at a particularly risky moment for Tesla, who is currently launching with her plan to introduce Robotaxie in more cities. The company is also experiencing a long -term long -month for the hard turn of Musk and its work with the administration of Donald Trump.

The automatic pilot, which can control the steering and braking functions, as well as making automatic track changes while on certain highways, has been the subject of increased control of federal regulators. And it was at the center of several proceedings, some of which have settled and others were rejected.

The case in question involves an inattentive driver of a Tesla Model S and a couple who was reporting Stargazing late at night. Naibel Benavids, 20, was killed in 2019 when George McGee’s S model struck a stationary SUV parked next to a T-Intection. McGee used the automatic pilot, but dropped his phone and was inattentive at the time of the accident. Benavids and his boyfriend, Dillon Angulo, who was seriously injured, stood outside the SUV when Tesla de McGee was plowed.

The case, which was heard before the American district court of the southern district of Florida, was deposited by Angulo and the family of Benavids.

Tesla plans to argue that the company is not at fault because the automatic pilot was not entirely in control of the vehicle at the time of the accident, citing data which show that McGee replaced the driver assistance by pressing the accelerator at the time of the accident. In addition, Tesla has long argued that drivers have a responsibility when accidents occurring involving the automatic driver. On its website, the company claims that its driver assistance systems “require active supervision of the driver and do not make the vehicle autonomous.”

The complainants will argue that the system has a certain responsibility for not warning the driver that an accident was imminent. The vehicle ignored a stop panel before the accident, and automatic emergency braking should have operated even if the automatic driver was not engaged.

However, it will be difficult for the complainants to convince a jury that Tesla was at fault. In cases of automotive responsibility in Florida, the standard is “if the automaker has shown reckless contempt for human life equivalent to guilty manslaughter by designing and marketing the vehicle,” notes the court.

Indeed, in another case involving a 2019 accident, Tesla was not responsible for the death of an owner of model 3 whose vehicle crashed by driving in automatic pilot. And in another case, a jury ruled against the complainant Justine Hsu, who continued Tesla after her vehicle struck a median when using the automatic pilot.

Tesla managed to dodge responsibility for mortal accidents involving her products for a long time. The company was forced to issue several reminders after a federal survey on dozens of accidents involving Tesla vehicles with automatic pilot, but it has never been criminally charged.

In 2023, Musk laughed at the issue of investors to find out if his business would accept legal responsibility for his autonomous vehicles in the future. “There are many people who assume that we have a legal responsibility,” said Musk, “to judge by the prosecution.”

However, the issues are incredibly high for Tesla – but again, when are they not? The president president in the Florida case judged that the complainants can request punitive damages in Tesla. And because Tesla refused to impose geographic limits on the automatic pilot, despite evidence that the system was poorly equipped to manage certain situations, the judge said that a jury could reasonably rule against Tesla.

“A reasonable jury could see that Tesla acted in a reckless contempt for human life to develop their product and maximize profits,” she wrote.