Tesla Wins First Jury Trial Over Fatal Autopilot Crash
(Bloomberg) -- Tesla Inc. convinced a jury that its Autopilot technology wasn't responsible for a crash that killed a California driver four years ago, vindicating the driver-assistance system that's a core part of Elon Musk's efforts to make his electric-car company stand out from rivals.
Jurors in state court in Riverside, California, on Tuesday sided with Tesla in the first lawsuit blaming a fatality on Autopilot to go to trial. The two surviving passengers who were seriously injured sought $400 million in damages for physical injury, mental anguish and loss of the driver's life.
Tesla's eight-year experiment with semi-autonomous driving is mired in controversy even as Musk has maintained that the technology makes his cars the safest ever produced.
The company faces federal probes into whether defects in Autopilot have contributed to at least 17 deaths since June 2021, as well as regulatory investigations and lawsuits over claims that it has over-hyped its progress toward hands-free driving. Several suits over fatal crashes are headed to trial in coming months in California and Florida.
The verdict came as Tesla shares are set to wipe out nearly one-fifth of their value in less than two weeks amid growing concerns that demand for electric cars is starting to weaken.
The trial that played out in Riverside for almost a month focused on Micah Lee, whose Model 3 veered off a freeway in Southern California in 2019, slammed into a tree and burst into flames.
Lawyers representing the crash survivors argued that a manufacturing defect in Autopilot mode caused the car to sharply swerve off the road. The company contended Lee had been drinking alcohol before he got behind the wheel and that there was no evidence he had even activated Autopilot before the collision.
Read More: Tesla Autopilot Faces Scrutiny in First Trial Over Fatal Crash
The nine-member jury reached its verdict in its fourth day of deliberations.
Company representatives and lawyers for Tesla and the plaintiffs didn't immediately respond to requests for comment.
The case is Molander v. Tesla Inc., RIC2002469, California Superior Court, Riverside County.
(Updates with background about case.)
More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com
©2023 Bloomberg L.P.
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