Tesla’s Autopilot technology has come under fire in a head-turning jury trial making its way through Miami, Florida. The suit stems from claims of negligence related to three deadly accidents involving Tesla cars. The trial has begun in earnest, as the family of Naibel Benavides Leon seeks justice for this senseless death. The deadly crash opened the floodgates for rampant speculation about the limits of Tesla’s much-touted advanced driving systems.
The suit itself stems from a grounding incident that occurred off the coast of Key West, Florida. Benavides and her boyfriend had exited their parked Chevrolet Tahoe. Hidden from the public, the lawsuit shows that George McGee, the Tesla driver, did not even slow down. First, he couldn’t stop despite the car identifying things in its way. This supposed failure only adds to the chorus of worries about Tesla’s turn on driverless tech—especially its handling in low-visibility conditions.
Regulators have been closely watching Tesla’s claims regarding its “Full Self-Driving” (FSD) technology. CEO Elon Musk claims that this same technology is sufficient for cars to drive themselves without any human intervention. Past and present officials have repeatedly cautioned the company about implying that FSD enables vehicles to drive themselves without driver oversight. In 2023, Tesla responded to the lawsuit by recalling its Autopilot system. The recall addressed issues in alerting currently distracted drivers who were not paying attention to the road.
In a notable legal win, a judge threw out counts of defective manufacturing and negligent misrepresentation against Tesla. Despite this significant setback, the court has permitted the Benavides family to continue seeking punitive damages, an indication that the court found their allegations to be egregious.
“A reasonable jury could find that Tesla acted in reckless disregard of human life for the sake of developing their product and maximizing profit.” – Bloom
The trial’s proceedings thus far have largely centered around the details of the crash itself and the tracked reliability of Tesla’s Autopilot system. From the beginning, Tesla has continued to assert that its technology was not to blame in the crash.
“The evidence clearly shows that this crash had nothing to do with Tesla’s Autopilot technology. Instead, like so many unfortunate accidents since cellphones were invented, this was caused by a distracted driver.” – Tesla
These claims are under attack. Further investigations began after several deaths associated with Tesla’s technology, prompting concerns over the system’s ability to handle a variety of conditions.
Amid all of this continued scrutiny, Tesla has been test-driving this new fleet of self-driving taxis in Austin, Texas. The trials so far have been overwhelmingly successful. Behind the facade we’ve seen only a handful of freak incidents falling like clockwork, such as when a taxi briefly drove against traffic. Failures like these lead to even more questions regarding whether the proposed self-driving technology is ready for prime time, let alone for mass deployment.
Depending on how this trial proceeds, it could have massive ramifications for Tesla and other tech companies’ ability to continue developing autonomous driving features. While regulators and safety advocates are likely to keep a close eye on Tesla’s progress, so too will the rest of the auto industry.
