Tesla has won a court case in California in which a woman claimed that the Autopilot feature of her Model S caused her to crash into a curb, leading to injuries. The woman, Justine Hsu, sued the company in 2020, alleging that there were defects in the design of Autopilot and the airbag. However, the jury found that the Autopilot feature did not fail to perform safely and that the airbag did not fail to perform safely either. As a result, Tesla was not found liable for the accident and Hsu was awarded zero damages.
The verdict is significant for Tesla as it continues to test and roll out its Autopilot and more advanced “Full Self-Driving (FSD)” system. CEO Elon Musk has described these features as crucial to the company’s future, but they have faced legal and regulatory scrutiny. The case is believed to be the first trial related to a crash involving the partially automated driving software.
During the court hearing, it was revealed that Hsu had used Autopilot on city streets, despite Tesla’s user manual warning against doing so. The company denied liability for the accident and said that Hsu’s injuries were caused by the airbag deploying too forcefully. Hsu sought more than $3 million in damages for the alleged defects and other claims. Neither Tesla nor Hsu’s attorney commented on the verdict.
