- A California jury has found Tesla not guilty in a trial stemming from a fatal accident in 2019
- This is due to a lawsuit over a malfunction of the autopilot in Micah Lee’s Tesla Model 3
- Elon Musk’s car company said the driver had been drinking alcohol before the accident
A California jury found Tesla not guilty in a trial alleging that its Autopilot driving feature led to a fatal accident – a major victory for Elon Musk’s company as it faces a series of similar lawsuits.
After four days of deliberations, the 12-member jury concluded by a vote of 9-3 that the vehicle involved in a 2019 accident did not have a manufacturing defect.
The civil lawsuit alleged that the autopilot system in Micah Lee’s Tesla Model 3 malfunctioned, causing an accident that killed Lee and injured his two passengers.
The car suddenly veered off a highway east of Los Angeles at 65 miles per hour, crashed into a palm tree and burst into flames within seconds.
The lawsuit filed by the passengers against Tesla accused the company of knowing when it sold the car that the autopilot and other safety systems were defective.
However, Tesla claimed that Lee had been drinking before the accident.
A California jury found Tesla not guilty in a trial over a fatal accident involving Autopilot in a Tesla Model 3 (pictured)
Tesla CEO Elon Musk gets into a Tesla car. The electric vehicle maker denied any liability and said the driver had consumed alcohol before getting behind the wheel
The electric vehicle maker also claimed it was unclear whether Autopilot was engaged at the time of the accident.
Tesla has been testing and rolling out its Autopilot and its more advanced full self-driving system, which Musk has touted as crucial to his company’s future but which has drawn regulatory and legal scrutiny.
Tesla won an earlier lawsuit in Los Angeles in April with a strategy of telling drivers that its technology requires human supervision, despite the names “Autopilot” and “Full Self-Driving.”
Federal data shows there have been at least 42 Tesla accident investigations since 2016, resulting in 23 fatalities, including two pedestrians and two motorcyclists.
The investigations by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration all involve cases in which the use of driver systems such as Autopilot or so-called “Full Self-Driving” was suspected.
In this fatal accident in March 2018, Apple engineer Walter Huang was playing a video game on his phone while driving a Tesla
US investigators suspect that the Tesla that collided with a fire truck in California in 2018, killing the driver and critically injuring a passenger, was driving on Autopilot at the time
Apple engineer Walter Huang died in March 2018 when his Tesla crashed while he was playing a video game on his phone.
NHTSA said a Tesla that collided with a fire truck in California in February 2018, killing the driver and seriously injuring a passenger, was driving on Autopilot at the time.
The Autopilot allegations are just one of many investigations Tesla is facing – many of which come from federal agencies.
In financial filings last week, Tesla said it had received subpoenas “regarding certain matters related to personal benefits, related parties, vehicle range and personnel decisions.”
According to an investigation, Musk ordered the automaker to manipulate the dashboards of its electric cars to show increased range before the battery ran out.
Tesla announced that the Justice Department was investigating claims that it lied about driving ranges
A U.S. Department of Justice investigation also found that a “diversion team” was set up to suppress thousands of complaints from owners disappointed with their vehicle’s performance.
Employees have reportedly been tasked with canceling as many service appointments as possible related to driving range issues.
Tesla owners have filed a lawsuit against the company because automatic software updates reduce the range of their cars by 20 percent and force some to spend $15,000 on new batteries.
In January, Tesla announced that the Justice Department had requested documents related to its Autopilot and “Full Self-Driving” features.