Tesla settles lawsuit over fatal autopilot crash

Tesla has reached a settlement in a lawsuit stemming from a 2018 car crash that resulted in the death of an Apple engineer

Tesla has reached a settlement in a lawsuit stemming from a 2018 car crash that resulted in the death of an Apple engineer, as reported by Reuters on Tuesday, citing court documents. The terms of the settlement have not been disclosed.

In 2018, a tragic accident involving a Tesla Model X occurred near San Francisco, resulting in the death of Walter Huang, a 38-year-old Apple engineer. The vehicle, operating on Tesla’s Autopilot system, veered off a highway and collided with a barrier, leading to questions about the safety and functionality of the semi-autonomous driving technology.

Huang’s family filed a lawsuit against Tesla, alleging that the Autopilot system steered the vehicle into the barrier and questioning the company’s understanding of how drivers would use the technology. Tesla, on the other hand, argued that Huang misused the Autopilot system by playing a video game at the time of the crash.

The accident that killed the engineer is one of many in the U.S. where Autopilot was suspected to be a factor. The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has investigated numerous crashes involving Tesla’s automated driving systems, some of which resulted in fatalities.

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Despite Tesla’s marketing of features like Autopilot and Full Self-Driving, the company has yet to produce a fully autonomous vehicle.

Tesla’s Autopilot system is designed to assist drivers with tasks like matching speed to traffic and staying within a lane, but it requires a fully attentive driver.