Tesla fined $243 million after jury finds it partly liable in autopilot death

Tesla has been ordered to pay a significant portion of a $329 million damages award following a 2019 fatal crash involving its Autopilot driver-assistance system. A Miami federal jury found the electric vehicle maker partly responsible for the collision that killed 22-year-old Naibel Benavides Leon and severely injured her boyfriend, Dillon Angulo, marking a rare courtroom defeat for the company in a high-profile Autopilot case.

The verdict, delivered on Friday, found Tesla's Autopilot technology shared responsibility for the crash, even though the driver, George McGee, admitted to being distracted by his cellphone. Jurors determined that Tesla's system failed to prevent the collision and that the company could not shift all blame to the human behind the wheel.

The total damages awarded by the jury amounted to $329 million, comprising $200 million in punitive damages and $129 million in compensatory damages. The jury assigned 33% of the liability for the crash to Tesla, meaning the company is on the hook for approximately $43 million of the compensatory damages, in addition to the full $200 million in punitive damages. This brings Tesla's direct financial obligation from the verdict to roughly $243 million.

Tesla, however, has stated that it believes the verdict is "wrong" and undermines efforts to develop life-saving technology. The company intends to appeal the decision. In its statement, Tesla reiterated that its systems require active driver supervision and that the driver in this case admitted responsibility.

The incident occurred in Key Largo, Florida, when McGee's Tesla, with Autopilot engaged, crashed into a parked Chevrolet Tahoe where Benavides Leon and Angulo were stargazing by the roadside.

Lawyers for the victims argued that Tesla enabled dangerous driving behavior by failing to automatically disable Autopilot when drivers became distracted and by permitting its use on roads where the system wasn't intended to operate. They also alleged that Tesla had either hidden or misplaced key crash data, which was later uncovered by a forensic expert hired by the plaintiffs.

This ruling is a significant development for Tesla, which has largely managed to settle or dismiss similar lawsuits before they reached trial. Legal experts believe this verdict could "open the floodgates," encouraging more lawsuits against the company and potentially impacting the broader autonomous vehicle industry.