In a landmark verdict, a Florida jury has ordered Tesla to pay $243 million in damages—marking the first time the company has been held liable by a jury for its Autopilot driver-assistance technology. Brett Schreiber, Partner at Singleton Schreiber and attorney for the plaintiffs, stated, “Tesla designed Autopilot only for controlled access highways yet deliberately chose not to restrict drivers from using it elsewhere… Tesla’s lies turned our roads into test tracks for their fundamentally flawed technology.” The verdict delivers a major blow to Tesla’s autonomous ambitions and intensifies scrutiny of its self-driving claims.
The case stemmed from a fatal 2019 crash involving a Tesla Model S, which killed Naibel Benavides Leon and severely injured Dillon Angulo. The jury found Tesla 33% at fault for failing to provide adequate warnings about Autopilot’s limitations, deeming the vehicle “unreasonably dangerous.”
