|
The
trial, in a California state court, stems from a civil lawsuit
alleging the Autopilot system caused owner Micah Lee’s Model 3
to suddenly veer off a highway east of Los Angeles at 65 miles
per hour (105 kph), strike a palm tree and burst into flames,
all in the span of seconds.
The 2019 crash killed Lee and seriously injured his two
passengers, including a then-8-year-old boy who was
disemboweled, according to court documents. The lawsuit, filed
against Tesla by the passengers and Lee's estate, accuses Tesla
of knowing that Autopilot and other safety systems were
defective when it sold the car.
Tesla has denied liability, saying Lee consumed alcohol before
getting behind the wheel. The electric-vehicle maker also claims
it was not clear whether Autopilot was engaged at the time of
crash.
Tesla has been testing and rolling out its Autopilot and more
advanced Full Self-Driving (FSD) system, which Chief Executive
Elon Musk has touted as crucial to his company's future but
which has drawn regulatory and legal scrutiny.
Tesla won a bellwether trial in Los Angeles in April with a
strategy of saying that it tells drivers that its technology
requires human monitoring, despite the "Autopilot" name. A Model
S swerved into a curb in 2019 and injured its driver, and jurors
told Reuters after the verdict that they believed Tesla warned
drivers about its system and that driver distraction was to
blame.
The stakes are higher in the trial this week, and in other
cases, because people died. Tesla and plaintiff attorneys
jousted in the runup about what evidence and arguments each side
could make.
Tesla, for instance, won a bid to exclude some of Musk’s public
statements about Autopilot. However, attorneys for the crash
victims can argue that Lee’s blood alcohol content was below the
legal limit, according to court filings.
The trial, in Riverside County Superior Court, is expected to
last a few weeks.
(Reporting by Dan Levine in San Francisco; Editing by Matthew
Lewis)
[© 2023 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.
|
|
