A California grand jury upheld Tesla in a case involving its Autopilot system.
Reuters The grand jury report denied the claim from the plaintiff, Justine Hsu, that she Tesla Model WILL The autopilot failed to work safely and did no damage to her.
It is believed to be the first trial involving a crash in which Autopilot is operating, and legal experts say that while the ruling is not binding in other cases, it could help determine strategy of the other plaintiffs’ legal groups.
The jurors told the news outlet they believe distracted driver was the cause, and Tesla has explicitly warned that its Level 2 system is not driverless technology.
“Autopilot has never admitted to being self-driving. It’s not a self-driving car,” juror Mitchell Vasseur said Reutersadmitted that he felt bad for Ms. Hsu but that Autopilot was not at fault.
“It is an automatic assistance and [Tesla] adamant about what drivers need to be aware of at all times.”
Judge Olivia Apsher said: “Technology is what supports you and we want that message to be clear.
“Drivers should understand that before they get in the back and control the vehicle using those features.”
The trial took place in Los Angeles Superior Court over the course of three weeks, with three Tesla engineers testifying.
Hsu, of Los Angeles, filed a lawsuit against Tesla in 2020 for an incident the previous year, alleging that her Model S hit the curb while Autopilot was in operation.
According to the legal filing, the airbag inflated “so violently that it fractured Plaintiff’s jaw, fractured a tooth, and damaged her facial nerves.”
After the verdict, Ms Hsu’s lawyer Donald Slavik said that although he understood the jury believed his client was distracted, the system alerted her less than a second before the car hit the curb.
The ruling is a victory for Tesla, which has been battered by claims that its Autopilot system is unsafe.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, a US regulator, has two active investigations underway into the system, one of which is at the technical analysis stage. and is looking into collisions with stationary emergency vehicles, while the other investigation is looking at virtual brake reports.
The agency confirmed it was investigating the 17th fatal crash involving Autopilot, after a Model S collided with a parked fire truck in Contra Costa County, California in February.
Shareholders also recently filed a lawsuit against Tesla in federal court in San Francisco, alleging that they were defrauded by the company with false and misleading claims about the technology “creating a risk of accidents and serious injury”.
