Tesla loses lawsuit and must pay more than $200 Million

[SavannahMann]

One of those Autopilot crashes made it to court, and the Jury found Tesla both Responsible and Liable. The Driver activated the Autopilot, and it just cruised on down the dark road, straight through a flashing light stop sign, across the T intersection without slowing down, and straight into a parked Tahoe with a young couple staring at the stars. One died, one is disabled for life.

Elon Musk’s Tesla ordered to pay $243M in deadly Autopilot crash case: ‘This will open the floodgates’

The decision ends a four-year long case remarkable not just in its outcome but that it even made it to trial.

nypost.com

Tesla has said they will appeal. Well yes they will. But this will, according to a Lawyer who was not involved in the case, open the floodgates to more lawsuits.

Once it is done successfully it will be done again and again.

 

[Checkerboard Strangler]

One of those Autopilot crashes made it to court, and the Jury found Tesla both Responsible and Liable. The Driver activated the Autopilot, and it just cruised on down the dark road, straight through a flashing light stop sign, across the T intersection without slowing down, and straight into a parked Tahoe with a young couple staring at the stars. One died, one is disabled for life.

Elon Musk’s Tesla ordered to pay $243M in deadly Autopilot crash case: ‘This will open the floodgates’

The decision ends a four-year long case remarkable not just in its outcome but that it even made it to trial.

nypost.com

Tesla has said they will appeal. Well yes they will. But this will, according to a Lawyer who was not involved in the case, open the floodgates to more lawsuits.

Once it is done successfully it will be done again and again.

A lady in China with a similar situation not only lost her suit, Tesla has successfully SUED HER for damaging their reputation and she is now liable for millions.

 

[EnchantedMuggle]

One of those Autopilot crashes made it to court, and the Jury found Tesla both Responsible and Liable. The Driver activated the Autopilot, and it just cruised on down the dark road, straight through a flashing light stop sign, across the T intersection without slowing down, and straight into a parked Tahoe with a young couple staring at the stars. One died, one is disabled for life.

Oh my God.

Elon Musk’s Tesla ordered to pay $243M in deadly Autopilot crash case: ‘This will open the floodgates’

The decision ends a four-year long case remarkable not just in its outcome but that it even made it to trial.

nypost.com

Tesla has said they will appeal. Well yes they will. But this will, according to a Lawyer who was not involved in the case, open the floodgates to more lawsuits.

Once it is done successfully it will be done again and again.

 

[Phys251]

One of those Autopilot crashes made it to court, and the Jury found Tesla both Responsible and Liable. The Driver activated the Autopilot, and it just cruised on down the dark road, straight through a flashing light stop sign, across the T intersection without slowing down, and straight into a parked Tahoe with a young couple staring at the stars. One died, one is disabled for life.

Elon Musk’s Tesla ordered to pay $243M in deadly Autopilot crash case: ‘This will open the floodgates’

The decision ends a four-year long case remarkable not just in its outcome but that it even made it to trial.

nypost.com

Tesla has said they will appeal. Well yes they will. But this will, according to a Lawyer who was not involved in the case, open the floodgates to more lawsuits.

Once it is done successfully it will be done again and again.

Good. Fully automated cars are one of the most overrated inventions ever. If one of them is at fault for a wreck, its creator needs to pay the bill.

 

[Craig234]

What a tragedy. They need to get it to not do this if they're going to put it on the road. $243 million is a lot but can't begin to compensate for the damage. There should be regulations and jail if they're violated.

 

[roberthughey]

One of those Autopilot crashes made it to court, and the Jury found Tesla both Responsible and Liable. The Driver activated the Autopilot, and it just cruised on down the dark road, straight through a flashing light stop sign, across the T intersection without slowing down, and straight into a parked Tahoe with a young couple staring at the stars. One died, one is disabled for life.

Elon Musk’s Tesla ordered to pay $243M in deadly Autopilot crash case: ‘This will open the floodgates’

The decision ends a four-year long case remarkable not just in its outcome but that it even made it to trial.

nypost.com

Tesla has said they will appeal. Well yes they will. But this will, according to a Lawyer who was not involved in the case, open the floodgates to more lawsuits.

Once it is done successfully it will be done again and again.

Correction.

"The decision ends a four-year long case remarkable not just in its outcome but that it even made it to trial. Many similar cases against Tesla have been dismissed and, when that didn’t happen, settled by the company to avoid the spotlight of a trial."

 

[Gatsby]

One of those Autopilot crashes made it to court, and the Jury found Tesla both Responsible and Liable. The Driver activated the Autopilot, and it just cruised on down the dark road, straight through a flashing light stop sign, across the T intersection without slowing down, and straight into a parked Tahoe with a young couple staring at the stars. One died, one is disabled for life.

$243 million seems really excessive for one fatality and one disability.

Good. Fully automated cars are one of the most overrated inventions ever.

One of the best inventions ever. 95% of automobile fatalities are caused by human error, and almost all of them can and will be solved by self-driving cars. Self-driving cars aren't perfect yet but they are already a lot better than human drivers (thinking specifically about Waymo and not Tesla here, although probably Tesla too). Stifling innovation in this area would not only lead to 30,000+ excess deaths every year, it would also make our cities less livable and increase commute times. They should pay when they make mistakes just like human drivers, but excessively punitive amounts like this case serve no purpose but to preserve the intolerable status quo.

If one of them is at fault for a wreck, its creator needs to pay the bill.

This is true. Or more realistically, what needs to happen is that they buy auto insurance policies just like any other driver. And since they will certainly have better safety records and will be buying in bulk, their risk premiums will be a lot cheaper than human drivers. Then the insurance company pays the bill for any wrecks they cause, which are rare.

 

[ttwtt78640]

Good. Fully automated cars are one of the most overrated inventions ever. If one of them is at fault for a wreck, its creator needs to pay the bill.

This wasn’t a “fully automated” car, as was implied by the term “autopilot”, thus the customer was (allegedly) misled thinking that the car wouldn’t drive itself (at speed) through a stop sign at a T intersection. The “bill” (compensatory damage award) was $43M, but the punitive award (for misleading the customer?) was $200M.

But the issue of trust generally in the company came up several times in the case, including in closing arguments Thursday. The plaintiffs’ lead lawyer, Brett Schreiber, said Tesla’s decision to even use the term Autopilot showed it was willing to mislead people and take big risks with their lives because the system only helps drivers with lane changes, slowing a car and other tasks, falling far short of driving the car itself.

Schreiber said other automakers use terms like “driver assist” and “copilot” to make sure drivers don’t rely too much on the technology.

“Words matter,” Schreiber said. “And if someone is playing fast and lose with words, they’re playing fast and lose with information and facts.”

Schreiber acknowledged that the driver, George McGee, was negligent when he blew through flashing lights, a stop sign and a T-intersection at 62 miles an hour before slamming into a Chevrolet Tahoe that the couple had parked to get a look at the stars.

The Tahoe spun around so hard it was able to launch Benavides 75 feet through the air into nearby woods where her body was later found. It also left Angulo, who walked into the courtroom Friday with a limp and cushion to sit on, with broken bones and a traumatic brain injury.