Tesla has reached a settlement in a lawsuit brought by the family of a Silicon Valley engineer who tragically died in a crash while using the company's semi-autonomous driving software. The lawsuit stemmed from a 2018 incident on a San Francisco Bay Area highway.
The exact amount Tesla paid to settle the case remains undisclosed, as court documents filed just a day before the trial was set to begin did not reveal the sum. In a court filing, Tesla stated that it opted to settle the case to bring an end to years of litigation.
The family of the deceased engineer filed a negligence and wrongful death lawsuit in 2019, alleging that Tesla, including CEO Elon Musk, had exaggerated the capabilities of the company's self-driving technology. They claimed that Tesla's Autopilot feature led vehicle owners to believe they could rely on the system without remaining vigilant while driving.
The fatal crash occurred when the engineer, Walter Huang, activated the Autopilot feature on his Tesla Model X during his commute to work. Evidence indicated that Huang was distracted, playing a video game on his iPhone, when the vehicle veered out of its lane and crashed into a concrete barrier at high speed.
Tragically, Huang, aged 38, lost his life in the crash, leaving behind his wife and two young children. The incident raised concerns about the potential dangers of overreliance on autonomous driving technology and the need for drivers to remain attentive while using such features.
This case is one of several across the U.S. that have questioned the accuracy of Tesla's autonomous technology claims. The U.S. Justice Department also initiated an inquiry into how Tesla and Musk promote their autonomous technology, although details of the investigation remain limited.
Tesla, headquartered in Austin, Texas, previously prevailed in a trial in Southern California that examined whether misconceptions about the Autopilot feature contributed to a separate crash involving one of the company's vehicles.
