this post was submitted on 01 Aug 2025
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Tesla loses Autopilot wrongful death case in $329 million verdict (arstechnica.com)
submitted 2 days ago by some_guy@lemmy.sdf.org to c/technology@lemmy.world
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A representative for Tesla sent Ars the following statement: "Today's verdict is wrong and only works to set back automotive safety and jeopardize Tesla's and the entire industry's efforts to develop and implement life-saving technology. We plan to appeal given the substantial errors of law and irregularities at trial. Even though this jury found that the driver was overwhelmingly responsible for this tragic accident in 2019, the evidence has always shown that this driver was solely at fault because he was speeding, with his foot on the accelerator—which overrode Autopilot—as he rummaged for his dropped phone without his eyes on the road. To be clear, no car in 2019, and none today, would have prevented this crash. This was never about Autopilot; it was a fiction concocted by plaintiffs’ lawyers blaming the car when the driver—from day one—admitted and accepted responsibility."

So, you admit that the company’s marketing has continued to lie for the past six years?

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[–] Showroom7561@lemmy.ca 36 points 1 day ago (19 children)

Good that the car manufacturer is also being held accountable.

But...

In 2019, George McGee was operating his Tesla Model S using Autopilot when he ran past a stop sign and through an intersection at 62 mph then struck a pair of people stargazing by the side of the road. Naibel Benavides was killed and her partner Dillon Angulo was left with a severe head injury.

That's on him. 100%

McGee told the court that he thought Autopilot "would assist me should I have a failure or should I miss something, should I make a mistake,"

Stop giving stupid people the ability to control large, heavy vehicles! Autopilot is not a babysitter, it's supposed to be an assistive technology, like cruise control. This fucking guy gave Tesla the wheel, and that was a choice!

[–] tylerkdurdan@lemmy.world 19 points 1 day ago (3 children)

i dont disagree; but i believe the suit was over how tesla misrepresented assistive technology as fully autonomous as the name autopilot implies

[–] Showroom7561@lemmy.ca 1 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Yes, false advertising for sure. But the responsibility for safe driving, is on the driver, even if the driver's role is engaging autopilot.

I can only imagine the same applies in other circumstances where autopilot is an option: planes, boats, drones, etc.

[–] tylerkdurdan@lemmy.world -2 points 1 day ago

agree with you here. your point reminds me of this case below. The tldr is pilots were using their laptop to look at scheduled iirc and overflew their destination. its long been speculated they were watching a movie

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northwest_Airlines_Flight_188

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