April 9 (UPI) — Tesla settled with the family of an Apple engineer who died in a 2018 crash in California while using the Autopilot feature on one of the company’s vehicles before jury selection was set to begin Tuesday.
The Monday filing did not disclose details of the settlement that came after Tesla CEO Elon Musk said in 2022 the company would not settle an “unjust case against us, even if we will probably lose.”
An investigation determined Huang was playing a game on his phone while using Autopilot in his Tesla to steer the vehicle when it slammed into a highway barrier near Mountain View, Calif. Investigators said the technology became confused over a “faded and nearly obliterated” road line that sent it into the barrier going 71 mph.
Investigators also found that Huang did not attempt to brake or steer his car away from the barrier before the crash.
Huang’s family sued in April 2019 as Tesla argued that it warned all drivers about overusing Autopilot and that they were in control of the vehicle.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration examined 1,000 Tesla crashes over two years and determined in 2023 that its Autopilot system can give drivers a false sense of security, allowing it to be misused in dangerous situations.
The NTSB said in the Huang crash, the driver had his hands on the steering wheel for 34 seconds in the final minute but the vehicle accelerated from 62 mph to 71 mph with no sign of pre-crash braking before the collision.
“Mrs. Huang lost her husband, and two children lost their father because Tesla is beta testing its Autopilot software on live drivers,” family attorney Mark Fong said in court documents in 2019, according to CNN.
A California jury in November ruled that Tesla’s Autopilot was not responsible for a 2019 crash that killed the driver of a Model 3 vehicle and seriously injured two passengers.
The settlement comes after Musk last week announced Tesla will introduce its Robotaxi, where autonomous vehicles will pick up and drop off passengers starting Aug. 8.
Last year, General Motors-owned driverless vehicle startup Cruise recalled all of its 950 similar self-driving vehicle systems after one dragged a pedestrian that was struck by another car.
