A Florida jury has found Tesla partially liable in a fatal crash involving its Autopilot system, ordering the Elon Musk-owned company to pay $329 million in damages. The verdict marks a major legal blow for Tesla and a significant moment in the broader debate over the safety of autonomous driving technology.
This is the first case in which Tesla has been held responsible for a wrongful death as a result of its Autopilot technology, according to a Reuters expert. That said, Tesla’s driver-assist software has been linked to hundreds of crashes, enough to warrant its own Wikipedia page.
The lawsuit stemmed from a 2019 incident in which a Tesla Model S driver, reportedly not paying attention while Autopilot was engaged, blew through a stop sign and red light before slamming into a parked Chevrolet Tahoe. Naibel Benavides Leon was standing next to the SUV at the time and was killed. Her former boyfriend, Dillon Angulo, survived with injuries.
A Miami federal judge has ordered Tesla to pay $129 million in compensatory damages and an additional $200 million in punitive damages to Benavides Leon’s estate and to Angulo. Per Reuters, Tesla plans to appeal the ruling.
"Today’s verdict represents justice for Naibel’s tragic death and Dillon’s lifelong injuries," Brett Schreiber, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, said in a statement to the Wall Street Journal. "Tesla designed Autopilot only for controlled-access highways yet deliberately chose not to restrict drivers from using it elsewhere, alongside Elon Musk telling the world Autopilot drove better than humans."
The ruling is a significant blow to Musk and Tesla, coming at a time when the billionaire is aggressively pushing to expand the company’s robotaxi initiative. As Musk works to convince investors and the public that Tesla can lead the future of autonomous driving, a $329 million verdict tied to its Autopilot system raises serious questions about the safety and legal risk of that vision and could open the company up to more Autopilot-related lawsuits in the future.
