As a Florida jury gets ready to determine whether the company is partially to blame for the tragic death of Naibel Benavides, a young woman who was struck and killed by a Tesla Model S that was allegedly using its Autopilot system, Tesla is once again in the news.
Benavides and her boyfriend were stargazing in 2019 when the car, which was going close to 70 mph, allegedly ran red lights and a stop sign before hitting her. Her body was later discovered in a wooded area after she was flung 75 feet. Although he survived, her boyfriend was seriously hurt. George McGee, the driver of the vehicle, is not a party to this trial and reached a separate settlement with the families of the victims.
The families’ attorneys contend that Tesla’s Autopilot driver assistance system ought to have recognized the impending collision and either automatically braked or warned the driver to avoid the collision. They contend that Tesla neglected to make sure its technology adequately protected the public in spite of numerous warnings over the years.
However, Tesla insists that human error caused the crash. Because McGee dropped his cell phone just before the collision, the company maintains that he was distracted. “The evidence clearly shows that Tesla’s Autopilot technology had nothing to do with this crash,” the company said in a statement. Rather, a distracted driver was to blame for this.
Because previous lawsuits against Tesla involving Autopilot have frequently been dismissed or settled out of court, this trial is noteworthy. In the meantime, the business is still under regulatory scrutiny; in 2023 alone, Tesla had to recall 2.3 million cars due to worries that its Autopilot system was not sufficiently guaranteeing that drivers were paying attention.
Some prospective jurors stated during the jury selection process that they found it difficult to maintain objectivity toward Tesla due to ethical concerns. Tesla CEO Elon Musk did not show up for court. “Evidence will show Tesla ignored warnings for years,” said a victim’s attorney. Shared responsibility is at issue here. We are here because of preventable actions that Tesla set in motion.
The question now is whether Tesla’s technology and its marketing claims that Autopilot is “safer than a human” can withstand such catastrophic outcomes.