Tesla settles lawsuit over 2018 Autopilot accident that killed Apple engineer

Tesla has reached a settlement over a 2018 crash that killed an Apple engineer when his Model X swerved on a highway near San Francisco while driving in Autopilot mode, court documents showed Monday. The settlement comes on the eve of a high-profile crash trial involving Tesla’s driver-assistance technology.

Tesla faces a slew of lawsuits over crashes involving its Autopilot, putting the automaker at risk of huge monetary judgments and reputational damage.

The terms of the settlement, which were not disclosed, come amid a push by Chief Executive Elon Musk to promote self-driving technology as the world’s most valuable vehicle. key to the carmaker’s financial future.

The 2018 crash killed 38-year-old Walter Huang. His family claimed that Autopilot drove his 2017 Model X into a highway guardrail.

Plaintiffs’ attorneys asked a Tesla witness whether the company knew drivers would not pay attention to the road when using its driver-assist systems, Reuters reported last month, citing deposition transcripts.

Tesla claims Huang abused the Autopilot system because he was playing video games before the crash.
Huang’s attorney and Tesla were unavailable for comment.

The crash that killed Huang was one of hundreds in the United States in which Autopilot was suspected in reports to auto safety regulators as a factor.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has examined at least 956 crashes where Autopilot was initially reported.

The agency has launched more than 40 investigations into accidents involving Tesla’s Autopilot system, resulting in 23 deaths.

Bryant Walker Smith, a law professor at the University of South Carolina with expertise in self-driving car law, said: “I’m shocked that Tesla decided to go so far publicly and then settle .”

“However, it does tell other attorneys that we may settle. We may not always fight it. That’s the signal.”

The case follows two previous Autopilot trials in California, in which Tesla won by arguing that the drivers involved failed to follow its instructions to stay attentive when using the system.

Tesla has yet to prove it can produce a self-driving car despite years of predictions by co-founder and CEO Musk that self-driving cars are coming, an expectation that has partly underpinned Tesla’s soaring valuation.

Musk said on Friday (April 5) that Tesla plans to launch a self-driving robot taxi on August 8, after Reuters reported that Tesla abandoned its cheap car plan in favor of robot taxis.

He also said last month that Tesla would offer U.S. customers a one-month free trial of its autonomous driving assistance technology.

Guidehouse Insights analyst Sam Abuelsamid said any negative publicity could hurt Tesla at a time when it is dealing with weak sales and reputational damage from some of Musk’s controversial comments. reputation.

He added: “The last thing they want right now is a public trial showing all the problems with fully autonomous driving.”

Tesla says Autopilot can match speed to surrounding traffic and navigate within highway lanes. An upgraded version of “enhanced” Autopilot, priced at $6,000, adds automatic lane changes, freeway ramp navigation and automatic parking.

The $12,000 Full Self-Driving option adds automated features on city streets, such as traffic light recognition.

In materials explaining the system, Tesla warns that it does not enable the car to drive itself, but instead requires a “full attention driver” who can “take over at any time.”

Musk said in a 2022 social media post, “We will never surrender/solve an injustice case against us, even though we may lose.”