New lawsuit against Tesla could hurt company's robotaxi launch

A new trial against Tesla has begun in Miami, where a jury must decide whether its autopilot technology was partly to blame for the death of a college student who was hit by an electric car. The company, in turn, is shifting the blame solely to the driver, who was reaching for a dropped cell phone at the time of the collision, the South China Morning Post reports.

The plaintiff's lawyers argue that the driver assistance system, called Autopilot, should have warned the driver and braked when his Model S sedan ran a red light, a stop sign and a T-intersection at 70 mph in April 2019, killing a college student and seriously injuring her boyfriend.

The lawsuit alleges that the driver relied on Autopilot to slow down and stop the electric vehicle when it detected objects in its path, including the Chevrolet Tahoe that killed two victims, Naybel Benavides Leon and her boyfriend, Dillon Angulo. Instead, the Tesla Model S rammed the Tahoe at high speed, causing the car to spin and hit Benavides, who was thrown into a wooded area by the fatal impact.

Tesla has denied nearly all of the allegations in the lawsuit and said it expects drivers to follow the warnings in the vehicle and the instructions in the owner's manual, as well as the rules of the road. The company specifically warns owners of electric vehicles that their cars cannot drive themselves. The company also claims that the accident occurred because the driver reached for his smartphone, which had fallen, instead of paying attention to the road.

"The evidence clearly shows that this crash had nothing to do with Tesla’s Autopilot technology," the company said in a statement. "Instead, like so many unfortunate accidents since cellphones were invented, this was caused by a distracted driver."

The plaintiff's lawyers, in turn, say that Tesla should have set a geofence for its autopilot so that it would only work on major roads, for which it was designed, and not on the smaller roads where the accident occurred. The lawyers also presented video evidence that autopilot detected the victims' car but did not warn the driver what to do.

The jury's decision, if it goes against Tesla, could have critical consequences for the company, which began testing its own autonomous robotaxi service in Austin, Texas, in June. Musk's company is trying to convince the public through testing that its self-driving system is safe, something that this fatal accident certainly doesn't help.

A judge in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida issued a partial ruling last month dismissing Tesla's claims of defective manufacturing and misrepresentation, but ruled that plaintiffs can pursue other claims that could hold Elon Musk's company liable and are entitled to seek damages.

"A reasonable jury could find that Tesla acted in reckless disregard of human life for the sake of developing their product and maximising profit," the judge said in a statement.

Tesla has updated its driver assistance and partial autopilot systems since the 2019 accident. However, the company continues to face lawsuits, investigations and criticism for overstating the capabilities of its autopilot. Most recently, a Ford executive criticized Tesla for not using LiDAR sensors, which are considered key to autonomous driving.