A California state court jury on Friday gave electric car manufacturer Tesla a resounding win in a car crash trial saying that its Autopilot feature did not fail, as per Reuters. This comes as Tesla attracted legal scrutiny after Justine Hsu of Los Angeles filed a lawsuit against it in 2020. Hsu claimed her Tesla Model S veered into a curb while in Autopilot. She said the airbag was deployed “so violently that it fractured Plaintiff’s jaw, knocked out teeth, and caused nerve damage to Plaintiff’s face.”
She demanded more than $3 million in damages and claimed that the Autopilot and the airbag had design flaws. In a court filing, Tesla claimed that Hsu employed Autopilot on city streets despite a user manual advising against doing so.
Tesla denied responsibility for the crash.
On Friday in Los Angeles Superior Court, the jury awarded Hsu no damages. Additionally, it was found that Tesla had not purposefully omitted any crucial information. After the verdict, jurors told Reuters that the partially automated driving software was not a self-piloting system and that the cause of the accident was driver attention.
On Friday, Tesla stock increased 1.3% to settle at $165.08.
Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla, has hailed the company’s sophisticated “Full Self-Driving (FSD)” system as essential to its future. Additionally, the company has been testing the Autopilot mode too.
Ed Walters, who teaches at Georgetown Law’s autonomous car course, said, “This case should be a wakeup call to Tesla owners: they can’t over-rely on Autopilot, and they really need to be ready to take control and Tesla is not a self-driving system,” reported Reuters.
Tesla’s Autopilot mode is designed to assist the driver with various driving tasks. It uses a combination of cameras, radar, and ultrasonic sensors to detect and respond to its environment in the real-time. Autopilot mode can be used on highways and it includes various features. When engaged, Autopilot mode can control the vehicle’s speed, steering, and braking, but it requires the driver to remain attentive and ready to take control at any moment.
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It’s important to note that Autopilot mode is not a fully autonomous driving system and should not be relied upon as such. Tesla recommends that drivers keep their attention focused on the road and not become distracted by other activities while using Autopilot mode.
In 2015, Tesla unveiled Autopilot, and in 2016, the first deadly accident was reported in 2016. That matter was never tried in court. Three Tesla engineers testified during the three weeks in the Hsu trial that took place in Los Angeles Superior Court.
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