A federal jury in Miami has found Tesla (TSLA.O) partly responsible for a 2019 crash involving its Autopilot driver assistance system that killed a pedestrian, awarding a total of about $242.5 million in damages.
The jury assigned two-thirds of the blame to the driver and one-third to Tesla, according to CNBC. Punitive damages against the automaker, combined with compensatory damages, brought the total award to the nine-figure sum. The driver, who was sued separately, did not brake before the collision, and neither did the Autopilot system.
The verdict followed a three-week trial over the accident, which killed 20-year-old Naibel Benavides Leon and severely injured her boyfriend, Dillon Angulo. The decision is one of the first significant legal rulings against Tesla over its driver assistance technology, which the company has defended in prior cases that were settled out of court.
Brett Schreiber, the lead attorney for the plaintiffs, said in a statement that Tesla designed Autopilot “only for controlled access highways yet deliberately chose not to restrict drivers from using it elsewhere, alongside Elon Musk telling the world Autopilot drove better than humans.” He added: “Today’s verdict represents justice for Naibel’s tragic death and Dillon’s lifelong injuries.”
Tesla said in a statement to TechCrunch that it plans to appeal the verdict “given the substantial errors of law and irregularities at trial.” The company added, “Today’s verdict is wrong and only works to set back automotive safety and jeopardize Tesla’s and the entire industry’s efforts to develop and implement life-saving technology.”
The ruling comes as Tesla rolls out its initial Robotaxi network in Austin, Texas, using an enhanced version of its driver assistance system, Full Self-Driving, which the company says is more capable than Autopilot.
