Tesla Partly Liable for Fatal Autopilot Crash

A Florida jury found Tesla partly responsible for a 2019 crash that killed a 22-year-old woman and injured her boyfriend when the Model S sedan’s Autopilot system failed to brake.

Plaintiffs argued that the self-driving assistance should have warned the driver and applied the brakes before the vehicle struck the victims at a T-intersection in the Florida Keys.

Tesla said the driver, George McGee, was at fault and called the verdict "wrong," promising to appeal. The company faces up to $243m in punitive and compensatory damages.

Shares of Tesla fell nearly 2% after the verdict, marking a setback for CEO Elon Musk, who has promoted Autopilot as key to Tesla’s future.

Plaintiffs’ attorney Brett Schreiber said Tesla marketed Autopilot for everyday driving but limited its design to controlled-access highways, accusing the company of endangering lives for "self-driving hype."

The suit, brought by the family of Naibel Benavides Leon, 22, and her boyfriend, Dillon Angulo, alleged that neither the driver nor Autopilot braked in time after McGee looked away while retrieving a dropped phone.

The jury awarded $329m, including $129m in compensatory damages and $200m in punitive damages. Tesla must pay one-third of the compensatory award plus the full punitive sum, though the latter may be capped.

Tesla stated no 2019 vehicle, including any today, could have prevented this crash, blaming the driver for overriding Autopilot by pressing the accelerator while distracted.

This was the first fatal Autopilot case to reach a jury; previous federal suits ended in settlement, including a 2018 crash that killed an Apple engineer.

Tesla’s partial liability ruling highlights the growing legal scrutiny over driver-assist technologies and their real-world safety limitations.

This topic was reported by BBC News.

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