That fatal accident was partly due to Autopilot, Tesla ordered to pay 242 million

MILAN – Tesla will have to pay over $200 million in damages for a fatal crash caused by Autopilot. A Florida jury found the Autopilot assistant partially responsible for the crash.

The accident

In 2019, in Key Largo, Florida, driver George McGee's Tesla Model S crashed into a parked Chevrolet SUV while crossing an intersection at 50 mph. Two pedestrians were also at the scene: Naibel Benavides Leon and her boyfriend, Dillon Angulo . He was maimed, while she lost her life.

The different versions

The verdict comes as CEO Elon Musk seeks regulatory approval for his self-driving software. Plaintiffs' lawyers argued that the crash was caused by driver recklessness based on misleading marketing information about the capabilities of Tesla's safety systems , a failure to update the technology after previous accidents, and the fact that it allowed drivers to use Autopilot on roads for which it was not designed.

In contrast, the company placed most of the blame on the driver, who it says was not paying attention to the road—busy searching for the phone he had dropped—despite its vehicle guidelines stating that people must always be alert and maintain control when its systems are activated.

Calculating the compensation

The jury found that Autopilot was partially responsible and awarded the automaker $200 million in punitive damages , plus $59 million in compensatory damages to Leon's family and $70 million in damages to Angulo.

However, as attorney Darren Jeffrey Rousso of the law firm representing Angulo and Leon's family explained, "since the jury placed one-third of the blame on Tesla, the compensatory damages will be reduced." The total amount of the award will be $242 million , consisting of $200 million in punitive damages, plus $19.5 million to the deceased woman's family and $23.1 million to her injured boyfriend.

The group will appeal the decision: “The verdict is wrong and only serves to hinder automotive safety and undermine Tesla and the entire industry's efforts to develop and implement life-saving technology,” it wrote in a statement.

Why the sentence is a serious blow to Musk's plans

While the dollar amount is insignificant for the electric car maker, which has a market capitalization of $950 billion, the ruling has significant legal significance : it is the first federal case to hold the company liable for an accident involving its self-driving software. In the past, Tesla had always managed to resolve cases through out-of-court settlements or favorable juries.

And although the case concerns an older version of Tesla's software, which has already been updated several times, this could also pose a hindrance to Musk's plans to launch robotaxis .