Miami, US (EFE).- A civil jury on Friday ordered Tesla to pay 329 million dollars for being partially responsible for the death of a woman in a 2019 car accident in Florida involving the company’s Autopilot.
The Miami civil trial concluded that Tesla was 33% responsible for the Key Largo, South Florida incident, in which Naibel Benavides, 20, was killed, and her boyfriend, Dillon Angulo, was injured when the driver, George McGee, activated the autopilot feature.
Benavides’s family will receive 59 million dollars in compensation, while her boyfriend will receive 70 million, in addition to the 200 million that the company of tycoon Elon Musk must pay in punitive damages.
Tesla warned in a statement to the media that it will appeal the verdict, calling it “a setback for automotive safety and jeopardizing Tesla’s and the entire industry’s efforts to develop and implement life-saving technology.”
However, lawyers emphasized the significance of this trial as the first in which a civil jury held Tesla liable for flaws in its Autopilot system.
The trial adds to the mounting pressure that Musk’s company faces to resolve Autopilot problems as it ramps up deployment of its robotaxis.
After the trial, Benavides’ mother and sister told reporters that they hope the verdict sets a precedent.
Tesla argued that it was not liable because McGee crashed while looking for his cell phone and not paying attention to the road.
The company claims in its advertising that the Autopilot is designed to make driving safer, but warns drivers to always keep their hands on the wheel.
Angulo and the Benavides family also accused Tesla of obstructing the accident investigation, claiming that Tesla prevented the Florida Highway Patrol (FHP) from accessing data from the vehicle.
The verdict came after authorities requested information from Tesla regarding incidents during the first hours of its robotaxi test service in Austin, the capital of Texas. Users posted videos of these cars exceeding speed limits and driving in the wrong direction.
In 2024, the electric vehicle manufacturer reached a settlement in a lawsuit over a 2018 accident in California, in which Walter Huang, a driver of one of Tesla’s semi-autonomous vehicles, died. The amount Tesla paid was not disclosed. EFE
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