Tesla Engineers Testify No Changes Made to Autopilot Despite Fatal Accidents
In recently revealed testimony from multiple engineers, it has been disclosed that Tesla, the renowned electric-car maker, did not make any modifications to its driver-assistance technology, Autopilot, to account for crossing traffic in the three years between two high-profile accidents that claimed the lives of Tesla drivers. These accidents involved the cars colliding into the side of trucks. This revelation comes at a time when Tesla and its CEO, Elon Musk, are facing legal pressure from consumers, investors, regulators, and federal prosecutors who are questioning whether the company exaggerated its progress towards self-driving vehicles.
With numerous investigations by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) underway, Tesla is under scrutiny for possible defects in Autopilot that have been linked to at least 17 deaths since June 2021. The upcoming trial, scheduled for October, will be a significant test for the company, as it marks the first case involving a death attributed to Autopilot. The courtroom battle will likely see Musk defending his repeated claims that Teslas are the safest cars ever made, while technology experts are expected to testify that Tesla’s marketing has misled drivers into a false sense of security.
Tesla’s attorneys, representing the company, have not yet responded to requests for comment regarding the newly revealed testimony. However, the automaker has maintained that it has been transparent about the limitations of Autopilot, including difficulties in detecting crossing traffic. Tesla’s owner’s manual and car screens explicitly warn drivers that they must remain alert and ready to assume control of the vehicle at all times.
Earlier this year, Tesla emerged victorious in its first trial related to a non-fatal Autopilot crash. A Los Angeles jury absolved the company of any wrongdoing after a woman claimed that the driver-assistance feature in her Model S caused her to veer into the median of a city street. However, the forthcoming trial in Palm Beach County, Florida, presents a fresh challenge for Tesla. Jeremy Banner’s family is suing the company for the death of the 50-year-old father of three, who activated Autopilot only 10 seconds before his Model 3 collided with the undercarriage of a tractor-trailer in 2019. The National Transportation Safety Board’s investigation indicated that Banner likely did not see the truck crossing the two-lane highway, and Autopilot apparently failed to detect it as well.
Court filings have highlighted the fact that despite Tesla’s knowledge of potential cross traffic, the Autopilot system was not designed to detect it at the time of the accidents. Testimony given by company engineers, Chris Payne and Nicklas Gustafsson, affirms this fact. These revelations have led Banner’s widow to revise her complaint and seek punitive damages, asserting that Tesla engaged in intentional misconduct and gross negligence by selling a vehicle with a defective Autopilot system, which had been previously linked to a fatal accident.
Mary Missy Cummings, an expert witness retained by the Banner family, has accused Tesla of intentional misconduct and gross negligence for not adequately testing and improving Autopilot between the incidents involving Joshua Brown in 2016 and Jeremy Banner in 2019. Cummings, a professor at Duke University and a vocal skeptic of Autopilot, claims that Tesla made public statements exaggerating the capabilities of its technology. The lawyer representing the Banner family, Trey Lytal, has yet to respond to requests for commentary regarding these latest developments.
As Tesla prepares for its trial in October, the company faces a critical examination of its engineering decisions and marketing practices. The outcome of this case will likely influence the public’s perception of Tesla’s claims about its vehicles’ safety features, as well as the progress made in the development of self-driving technology. Meanwhile, regulators and investigators continue their probes into Autopilot’s potential defects and the associated fatalities.
