Tesla faces two forthcoming trials that question its Autopilot system’s safety in tragic incidents. The cases may affect public trust in self-driving cars, especially Tesla’s.
California will see the first litigation in September. Micah Lee died when his Tesla Model 3 drove off a roadway, hit a palm tree, and caught fire. The injured passengers and Lee’s estate claim Tesla understood Autopilot’s problems but didn’t fix them.
Tesla responded that Lee was drinking and that Autopilot may have been involved in the 2019 accident.
A second Florida case in October fuels the fire. Stephen Banner’s Model 3’s roof was torn off by a truck trailer in another deadly collision. The claimants say that Autopilot didn’t evade the oncoming collision.
Internal documents reveal Elon Musk and his staff knew Autopilot had flaws but did nothing about them. Tesla has repeatedly claimed that Autopilot is safe when overseen by humans.
But public opinion is critical of those claims. Critics say that “Autopilot” and “Full-Self Driving” (FSD) are misleading. Musk has often promised completely autonomous driving in future cars but has so far been met with failure. Tesla’s Autopilot and FSD are Level 2 driver assistance, not fully autonomous.
The next trials are a turning point for the self-driving tech industry, not just Tesla. Tesla claims their FSD Version 12 software allows autonomous driving without human input, but how safe is “safe enough” when lives are at stake? The answer remains unknown.
