Elon Musk's Tesla Faces Court Heat Over 'Defective Autopilot' System
elon musk’s tesla faces court heat over ‘defective autopilot’ system
Tesla Inc CEO Elon Musk was aware that the Autopilot system in the cars made by the company was faulty, and yet the vehicles were allowed to run on the road, a court ruled last week.
Hearing a case in the death of Stephen Banner, who died in 2019 after his Model 3 crashed into the trailer of a big 18-wheeler truck north of Miami in 2019, Judge Reid Scott at Circuit Court in Florida’s Palm Beach County, ruled that the plaintiff, Banner’s wife, could proceed to trial and file claims for punitive damages against the company for gross negligence and intentional misconduct.
Reminding the court that Banner’s death was “eerily similar” to the fatal 2016 crash which killed driver Joshua Brown after the Autopilot system, again, failed to detect trucks in front, Judge Scott said, “It would be reasonable to conclude that the Defendant Tesla through its CEO and engineers was acutely aware of the problem with the ‘Autopilot’ failing to detect cross traffic.”
The ruling is a setback for Musk’s company which recently won two trials in California over the Autopilot system.
Banner’s lawyer, Lake “Trey” Lytal III, expressed his delight at the ruling, saying they were “extremely proud of this result based in the evidence of punitive conduct”.