Tesla Settles Over Autopilot Crash With Truck Crossing Highway
Driver of Model 3, Jeremy Banner, Was Killed on His Way to Work in Florida in 2019
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Tesla Inc. settled a high-profile lawsuit over a driver鈥檚 death in 2019 when the Autopilot system in his Model 3 allegedly failed to avoid a collision with a tractor-trailer crossing a Florida highway.
The confidential settlement, disclosed in a July 7 court filing, came just before Elon Musk鈥檚 electric vehicle maker went to trial in Miami this week over another 2019 fatal crash in Florida blamed on its driver-assistance system.
The lawsuit over Jeremy Banner鈥檚 Model 3 collision with the tractor-trailer was among the first to allege defects in the driver-assistance software and to test Musk鈥檚 claims that Teslas are the safest cars.
An investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board cited 鈥渋nattention due to over-reliance on automation鈥 for Banner鈥檚 failure to react to the truck crossing a two-lane highway on his way to work. In a 2020 report, the agency also criticized Tesla鈥檚 technology for insufficiently monitoring and enforcing driver engagement. 鈥淭he Autopilot system did not send a visual or audible warning to the driver to put his hands back on the steering wheel,鈥 the report said.
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A Tesla representative declined to comment on the settlement, the latest in a series of out-of-court accords reached by the company in cases headed toward trial. Last year, Tesla settled with the estate of Walter Huang, the Apple Inc. engineer who died on his morning commute in a Northern California highway crash while driving his Model X on Autopilot.
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Trey Lytal, a lawyer for Banner鈥檚 widow, said he not could comment on the amount of the settlement. But he said the lawsuits against Tesla have 鈥渕ade a big difference.鈥
鈥淭here鈥檚 no question that the justice system, and especially jury trials, holds Tesla accountable for its actions,鈥 he said.
