Tesla settles lawsuit over ‘autopilot’ crash that killed Apple engineer in 2018
Upstox
2 min read • Updated: April 9, 2024, 1:06 PM
Summary
The settlement between Tesla and Walter Huang’s family was reached a week before the trial in the case was set to commence at a court in San Francisco, where the accident was reported six years ago. The terms of settlement were not disclosed.
Electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla has settled a lawsuit over a fatal crash caused due to the alleged malfunctioning of its ‘autopilot’ technology, reports said, citing court documents. The road accident had led to the demise of Walter Huang, a 38-year-old engineer who was working with tech giant Apple.
The settlement between Tesla and Huang’s family was reached a week before the trial was set to commence at a court in San Francisco, where the accident was reported six years ago.
While the terms of settlement were not disclosed, news agency AFP, citing the court documents, reported that Tesla has sought to keep the amount of settlement under the seal. The company’s spokesperson was yet to issue a statement.
The 2018 ‘Autopilot’ crash case
Huang was using Model X of Tesla, equipped with the autopilot or the advanced driver-assistance system of the EV maker. According to the lawsuit filed by his family members, he was driving in California city of Mountain View in March 2018. He was using the autopilot feature while driving, but the Model X steered into a concrete median leading to his death, it claimed.
Tesla, however, denied any wrongdoing on its part, alleging that Huang was not attentive while using the autopilot feature. The Elon Musk-led automaker argued that he was playing video game just before the accident, which indicates that he was not alert. The investigators also found in their probe that Huang was playing video game at the time of the crash, The Guardian reported.
“There is no dispute that, had he been paying attention to the road he would have had the opportunity to avoid this crash,” Tesla reportedly said in a court filing.
The lawyers representing Huang’s family, however, raised questions related to drivers’ safety. They had asked Tesla to clarify whether it took into account that drivers may not or could not use the system as directed, reports had said.
Notably, the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration had initiated investigations in over 40 crash cases involving cars that allegedly used Tesla’s autopilot feature, news agency Reuters reported. The accidents had led to the death of 23 persons.
Apart from the cases involving Tesla, the US regulator is also reportedly examining 956 road accident cases, where automated-driving systems were allegedly used by drivers.