Tesla Lawsuit

A California judge has ordered Tesla CEO Elon Musk to give a deposition under oath about his statements regarding the safety and capabilities of the Tesla vehicles’ Autopilot features.

The ruling came in a lawsuit filed by the family of former Apple engineer Walter Huang, who died in a car crash in 2018. Huang’s family argues that Tesla’s partially automated driving software failed, while Tesla contends that Huang was playing a video game on his phone before the crash and disregarded vehicle warnings, as reported by Reuters.

The ruling for Musk to testify was “tentative,” and a hearing has been set for Thursday, April 27th, to decide whether to depose him.

In response, Tesla’s lawyers argued that Musk could not recall the details of his statements and that the billionaire celebrity CEO is often the subject of convincing “deepfake” videos. However, Judge Evette Pennypacker called Tesla’s arguments “deeply troubling,” and added that such arguments would allow Musk and other famous people “to avoid taking ownership of what they did actually say and do.”

The lawsuit is scheduled to go to trial on July 31st, adding to growing legal and regulatory scrutiny over Tesla’s Autopilot system. Musk, Tesla, and an attorney for Huang’s family did not immediately respond to a request for comment requested by Reuters.

Source: Reuters

Tesla has defeated a lawsuit claiming the company’s Autopilot feature was at fault for a single-car crash in 2019.

As reported by Reuters, a California state court jury determined that Tesla’s driver-assistance feature, known as Autopilot, did not cause a crash that led to the driver receiving nerve damage, a fractured jaw and missing teeth.

The initial lawsuit was issued by Los Angeles resident Justine Hsu, who claimed that her Model S swerved into a curb while on Autopilot. She sued for over $3 million in damages, claiming that the software and Tesla’s airbags were defective.

The EV company denied responsibility for the accident and looked to its software user manual as a defence. Sure enough, the manual advises against the practice of using Autopilot on city streets, which is what Hsu was doing before the crash. No damages were awarded to Hsu, saying the automaker “did not intentionally fail to disclose facts about Autopilot.”

The results of the lawsuit won’t be legally binding in other cases but are expected to be used how to inform lawyers to tackle future incidents involving driver-assisted technology.

Despite winning the case, Tesla’s Autopilot feature still has a stigma surrounding the legitimacy and safety of the software. The company remains under investigation by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration for Autopilot collisions involving parked emergency vehicles.

In other Autopilot news, a federal investigation is ongoing after a Model S accident left three passengers dead.

Image credit: Tesla

Source: Reuters Via: Engadget