SAN FRANCISCO— A U.S. jury has ordered Tesla to pay more than $240 million in damages over a fatal 2019 crash allegedly caused in part by the company’s Autopilot driver-assistance system.
The jury found Tesla partially responsible for the accident, which claimed the life of 22-year-old Naibel Benavides Leon and left her boyfriend, Dillon Angulo, seriously injured. The two were stargazing by the roadside when a Tesla Model 3 struck them late at night.
Although the Tesla driver admitted to being distracted by his cellphone, the jury concluded that a malfunction in Tesla’s Autopilot technology contributed to the crash—and that the company could not deflect blame entirely onto the driver.
The court awarded $200 million in punitive damages, $59 million in compensatory damages to Leon’s family, and an additional $70 million to Angulo, according to court documents.
Legal experts said the landmark verdict establishes that companies bear moral and legal responsibility for technological failures, even when human error is involved. While Tesla has typically settled similar cases out of court or had them dismissed, this ruling could pave the way for more plaintiffs to pursue lawsuits over Autopilot-related crashes.
Attorneys for the victims accused Tesla of withholding critical evidence, including video footage and telemetry data recorded moments before the crash. Although Tesla claimed the data did not exist, a forensic expert uncovered the exact files the company said were missing. Tesla later stated it was an “honest mistake.”
The ruling comes at a sensitive time for Tesla and CEO Elon Musk, who is preparing to launch driverless taxi services in select cities later this year. While Tesla has made significant upgrades to its Autopilot system since the 2019 incident, the verdict raises new questions about the real-world safety and reliability of the technology. (Source: IANS)
