Tesla hit with $329M verdict in Autopilot wrongful death case

In a landmark decision, a federal jury in Miami has found Tesla partially liable in a wrongful death lawsuit, marking the first time the automaker has faced a jury verdict against it in a case involving its Autopilot driver assistance system. Previous lawsuits of this nature had either been dismissed or settled out of court. The verdict awarded the plaintiffs $329 million in damages.

The lawsuit stemmed from a tragic incident in 2019 when George McGee was operating his Tesla Model S with Autopilot engaged. McGee’s vehicle reportedly ran a stop sign and proceeded through an intersection at 62 mph, striking Naibel Benavides and Dillon Angulo, who were stargazing by the roadside. Benavides was killed, and Angulo sustained a severe head injury.

During the trial, Tesla maintained that McGee, as the driver, was solely responsible for the crash. However, McGee testified that he believed Autopilot would provide assistance or intervention if he made a mistake or missed something. Plaintiffs argued that Tesla, and its CEO Elon Musk, had actively fostered this perception through what they described as highly misleading statistics, creating an impression of the system’s safety that did not align with reality.

Expert witnesses testified regarding Tesla’s approach to human-machine interfaces, driver monitoring systems, and its use of safety statistics. After deliberations, the jury concluded that while McGee was partly responsible for the collision, Tesla also bore responsibility for selling a vehicle “with a defect that was a legal cause of damage” to Benavides’ family and Angulo. The jury awarded $129 million in compensatory damages and an additional $200 million in punitive damages.

Brett Schreiber, lead attorney for the plaintiffs, stated, “Tesla designed Autopilot only for controlled access highways yet deliberately chose not to restrict drivers from using it elsewhere, alongside Elon Musk telling the world Autopilot drove better than humans.” Schreiber added, “Tesla’s lies turned our roads into test tracks for their fundamentally flawed technology, putting everyday Americans like Naibel Benavides and Dillon Angulo in harm’s way. Today’s verdict represents justice for Naibel’s tragic death and Dillon’s lifelong injuries, holding Tesla and Musk accountable for propping up the company’s trillion-dollar valuation with self-driving hype at the expense of human lives.”

Requests for comment from Tesla by Ars Technica have gone unanswered for several years.