Tesla engineers testifying in a lawsuit filed by the family of a driver killed in a 2019 crash stated that the company failed to address problems in its “Autopilot” driver-assistance technology after a deadly accident in 2016.
Bloomberg reports that Tesla is facing legal challenges over its Autopilot system, which has been linked to fatal crashes in Florida along with many other states. The company is accused of failing to address limitations in its driver-assistance technology following a deadly accident in 2016, according to engineers’ testimony in a lawsuit filed by the family of a driver killed in a similar crash in 2019.
Florida Tesla Crash (Florida Highway Patrol)
California Tesla Crash (Contra Costa County Fire Protection District via AP)
The lawsuit alleges that Tesla did not make any changes to its Autopilot system to account for crossing traffic in the nearly three years between two high-profile accidents that killed Tesla drivers whose cars collided with the side of trucks. The case is set to go to a jury trial in October.
According to company engineer Chris Payne’s testimony in 2021, as cited in a recent court filing, the Autopilot system was not designed to detect cross traffic despite the company’s awareness of the possibility for error. Engineer Nicklas Gustafsson provided a similar account in a 2021 deposition.
The lawsuit was brought by the family of Jeremy Banner, a 50-year-old father of three who had switched on Autopilot 10 seconds before his Model 3 plowed into the underbelly of a tractor-trailer in 2019. An investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) found that Banner probably didn’t see the truck crossing a two-lane highway on his way to work. Autopilot failed to “see” the truck at the same time.
Tesla has been under increasing legal pressure from consumers, investors, regulators, and federal prosecutors who are questioning whether the company has over-hyped its progress toward self-driving vehicles during the last eight years. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is also investigating possible defects in Autopilot linked to at least 17 deaths since June 2021.
The trial will pit Tesla’s repeated assertion that its cars are the safest ever made against technology experts expected to testify that the company’s marketing has lulled drivers into a false sense of security. Elon Musk, Tesla’s CEO, was excused from being questioned in the case by a Florida judge last year. According to excerpts from a 2020 deposition of Tesla’s former director of Autopilot software, Christopher “CJ” Moore, in the family’s revised complaint, the billionaire chief executive is “hands-on,” “very involved with the product’s definition” and “very involved with making certain decisions around how things should work” with Autopilot.
Tesla contends it has been transparent about Autopilot’s limitations, including challenges with detecting traffic crossing in front of its cars. The company warns in its owner’s manual and car screens that drivers must be alert and ready to take control of vehicles at any time.
The case set to be presented to a jury in Palm Beach County, Florida.
Read more at Bloomberg here.
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship. Follow him on Twitter @LucasNolan
