A miami jury Tesla was partially responsible for a 2019 accident in which one person was killed and another injured – while the Model SK driver used the automacker’s auto -pilot driver aid feature.
The jury found Tesla responsible for the loss of $ 43 million, in addition to the losses punished for Million 200 million. (Due to state rules, the company will potentially pay a low price.) A jury found a third responsible man of the accident. He found the driver of Tesla, who settled with the plaintiffs and testified during the trial, which is responsible for the other two -thirds.
In a written statement, Tesla spokesman Jeff Mc Andrews said “the decision is wrong.” He said, “Referring to the mistakes and irregularities for the law and the irregularities in the trial, he said that Tesla would appeal.
The case took place in the 2019 accident in Florida Keys, in which the driver of the Tesla Model S in Auto Pilot Mode allegedly came to the Tea Antilation and failed to see that the roadway was coming to an end, he placed on the accelerator. The car collided with a parked car and two people were standing nearby. One of the pedestrians, 22 -year -old Nabebidus Lyon, was killed. His boyfriend, 26 -year -old Dillon Angolo, was seriously injured.
Tesla’s lawyers argued that the model was not defective, and he alleged that Tesla’s driver was fishing for his cellphone at the time of the accident, and so was responsible.
Tesla’s auto -pilot feature has been blamed for dozens of accidents, but this is the first time the company has been found responsible for the auto -pilot crash. The company was not found responsible for two fatal accidents in California in 2023. And he has set up several cases outside the court, including a high -profile 2018 accident that killed a model X driver in Silicon Valley. In 2023, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration forced Tesla to issue a major auto -pilot memorandum, when the US Roadway Safety Agency spent two years investigating deadly auto -pilot accidents and encouraged the driver’s encouragement system.
Separately, Tesla suffered a California administrative hearing last month when the state’s department of motor vehicles sued the car maker, and alleged that it made consumers the auto -pilot limits and its modern and more modern features, fully self -driving (monitoring). The hearing, which is due to a resolution of an administrative judge later this year, can result in a license to sell and manufacture vehicles in Tesla for 30 days in California.
During the three -week trial, lawyers representing the plaintiffs argued that Tesla and CEO Elon Musk raised incorrect expectations in drivers about the capabilities of the auto pilot. Lead Attorney Brett Shirber cited a 2016 press conference in which Musk said that Tesla’s vision system means that its cars should not hit anything – even “a stranger plane, a pile of rubbish that fell from the back of the truck.”
Despite marketing, Tesla constitution believes that drivers need to be vigilant using the auto pilot, and be prepared to handle driving on a moment’s notice. Tesla added more “nag” to its system after a memory of 2023, which requires drivers closely focusing on the road, and if the system detects too much instability, the auto pilot suspends access. (After testing, consumer reports have asked if these reforms resolve the driver’s instability?)
“Tesla has chosen to put its better auto -pilot technology on the roadways of this community to know that the leading government agencies for transporting transport in this country have been asking Tesla to secure their products for years,” Shrieber said in her initial statement. “For years before the accident and after the accident, Tesla ignored these warnings.”
