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A jury in Florida has found Tesla partly liable for a 2019 crash involving its Autopilot software that resulted in one death and a severe injury.
The verdict is a significant setback for the company and CEO Elon Musk, who has consistently promoted the technology as a key part of the company’s future.
The lawsuit was brought by the family of Naibel Benavides Leon, 22, who was killed, and her boyfriend, Dillon Angulo, who suffered lifelong injuries when a Tesla Model S struck them in the Florida Keys.
The court heard that the car’s driver, George McGee, had become distracted while looking for his phone, and neither he nor the Autopilot system applied the brakes in time to prevent the collision.
Plaintiffs’ attorneys argued that Tesla had misrepresented Autopilot’s capabilities, designing it for highways yet failing to restrict its use on other roads. They accused Musk of using “self-driving hype” to boost the company’s valuation at the expense of safety.
Following a three-week trial, the jury awarded a total of $329 million in damages. This includes $129 million in compensatory damages and a further $200 million in punitive damages. Tesla has been ordered to pay the full punitive damages, as well as $42.5 million of the compensatory total. The verdict caused Tesla’s stock to dip by nearly 2% when US markets closed.
In a statement, Tesla called the verdict “wrong” and vowed to appeal, arguing that the driver was solely at fault for speeding and not paying attention. The company claimed that “no car in 2019, and none today, would have prevented this crash,” asserting that the lawsuit was a “fiction concocted by plaintiffs’ lawyers.”
Despite Tesla’s stance, the verdict has been hailed by critics as a crucial step toward holding the company accountable for its driver-assistance technology. While other lawsuits have been filed, this is the first federal case of its kind to be decided by a jury, setting a new legal precedent as the automotive industry continues its push into autonomous driving.
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