Autopilot: Tesla Reaches Agreement to Avoid High-Profile Lawsuit

The fatal accident in 2018 of a Tesla driver while the Autopilot was engaged will not be judged following a settlement with the family.

The American justice system does not take lightly the amount of fines to be paid in cases of proven liability during a trial. Amounts regularly reach tens of millions of dollars, not to mention the negative publicity in the media.

Being aware of this fact, Tesla, just before the start of a trial in California to determine the manufacturer’s liability in the death of an Apple engineer in 2018 in the crash of a Model X while the Autopilot was engaged, announced that it had reached a financial and confidential agreement with the family.

This revelation was made by the San José court, which has now announced the case will be classified. For reference, the case concerns the fatal accident of an Apple engineer, who was the owner of a Tesla Model X, in 2018. According to the investigation findings, he had activated the Autopilot of his car to play on his smartphone. His Tesla allegedly suddenly left the road and crashed into safety barriers at over 120 km/h due to a misinterpretation of traffic signs.

Towards a multiplication of lawsuits?

The investigation also reportedly showed that the driver had his hands on the steering wheel only 34% of the time during the 19 minutes leading up to the crash. However, the Autopilot system was supposed to remind him to be attentive, and it is this aspect that heavily implicated Tesla. Since then, once the Autopilot is engaged, Tesla states that the driver must be able to regain control at any moment by keeping their hands on the steering wheel. So, what is the point of an autopilot?

But by refusing the trial, and therefore the opportunity to defend itself, has Tesla opened a Pandora’s box? Now, lawsuits are likely to multiply now that plaintiffs know that financial settlements are possible. The very strict regulation of autonomous driving in Europe serves as a safeguard against customers experimenting with technologies that are still far from mature.

Finally, at a time when Tesla promises autonomous taxis starting in August 2024, this is certainly bad publicity for the service.

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