Jury Says Tesla Was Partly to Blame for Fatal Crash
Lawyers for the family of a woman struck and killed by a Tesla sedan in 2019 argued that the company’s Autopilot software should have avoided the crash.
A Florida jury on Friday found that flaws in Tesla’s self-driving software were partly to blame for a crash that killed a 22-year-old woman in 2019 and severely injured her boyfriend. The verdict is a significant setback for the carmaker, which is staking much of its future on developing self-driving taxis.
The jury awarded $59 million in compensatory damages to the family of the woman and $70 million to her boyfriend, plus $200 million in punitive damages. Tesla will be required to pay a third of the compensatory damages and all of the punitive damages.
The jury found that Tesla bore 33 percent responsibility for the crash, and blamed the driver, George Brian McGee, for the remainder. Mr. McGee had previously settled with the family for an undisclosed sum.
The decision comes just weeks after Tesla began limited testing of autonomous taxis in Austin, Texas. Elon Musk, the company’s chief executive, said in a conference call with investors in July that the service could cover half the population of United States by the end of the year.
