Tesla has settled two cases against the company concerning fatalities in two crashes in California in 2019, following the firm’s use of its Autopilot advanced driver-assistance software, according to court documents.
The settlements are provided weeks following the decision of a Florida jury to award an indemnity of US$243 million (RM1 billion) in compensatory and punitive damages to the fatalities of another Model S crash, which arose after being installed with Autopilot.
Tesla employed three well-known new attorneys and requested a judge to declare the verdict carried out on improper legal foundations and dismiss the case, or to restructure the trial.
A filing revealed last week that the electric-vehicle manufacturer, which has settled multiple other lawsuits involving its vehicles and its self-driving technology, had rejected a US$60 million settlement offer in the Florida lawsuit.
The Florida ruling and the two settlements in California are noteworthy because much of Tesla’s value is currently estimated at US$1.4 trillion, based on a promise made by CEO Elon Musk to roll out its robotaxis and the full self-driving (FSD) software that powers these systems. Therefore, FSD is a sophisticated form of Autopilot.
The settlement notice of one of the lawsuits was filed on Tuesday and involves the death of a 15-year-old boy who was riding in Alameda County, California, in a vehicle driven by his father when it was struck by a Tesla Model 3, which had Autopilot turned on, leading to the victim’s vehicle rolling over and crashing into the centre barrier. The boy did not resist his injuries in the collision.
The other incident pertains to the death of two individuals travelling through an intersection in Gardena, California, in a Honda Civic in December 2019, when a Tesla Model S, using Autopilot, did not stop at a red light at high speed and hit the victim’s vehicle.
Lawyers representing did not respond to a request to comment on the Alameda case, nor did they provide a response to comment on the Gardena case. Tesla failed to respond to comment requests in this context.
According to the notice filed last week and Reuters’ review, the Gardena settlement case only involves Tesla as the trial proceeds against the driver of the Model S vehicle and a handful of other defendants.
Both notices failed to provide the terms of the accords; as per the accords, lawsuit dismissals were conditional upon “satisfactory completion of specified terms.”
Both cases were due to begin trial in the coming month, one to be held in Alameda County Superior Court and another in the Los Angeles County Superior Court. According to the court orders, a judge in the Alameda Superior Court vacated the previously scheduled trial on Tuesday, and Tesla and the plaintiffs agreed to dismiss their petitions in the Los Angeles trial.
