- Tesla settles wrongful death lawsuit related to 2018 fatal crash.
- The family of Walter Hwang has filed a lawsuit after the Apple engineer was killed while his Tesla was in Autopilot mode.
- Details of the settlement, which was reached just before a scheduled trial, were not disclosed.
Tesla has settled a wrongful death lawsuit filed by the family of an Apple engineer who was killed when his Tesla crashed while in Autopilot mode, according to court records reviewed by Business Insider.
Details of the settlement filed Monday were not disclosed. The settlement comes just as the case was scheduled to be heard in California's Santa Clara County Superior Court on Monday.
The family of Apple engineer Walter Huang, 38, sued Tesla in 2019, claiming that the Tesla Model X SUV he was driving at the time of his death had a “design defect.” The lawsuit alleges that the March 23, 2018 crash was caused by Tesla's Autopilot software.
At the time, attorney B. Mark Fung, who represented Huang's family, said, “As Tesla beta-tests its self-driving software with real drivers, Ms. Huang lost her husband and the father of her two children. ,” he said in a statement. “The Huang family wants to prevent this tragedy from happening to other drivers of Teslas and semi-autonomous vehicles.”
Representatives for Tesla and the Huang family did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Business Insider.
Several lawsuits have been filed against Tesla related to the Autopilot feature, but this appears to be the first time the company has reached a settlement, The Washington Post reported.
While the lengthy civil trial may have been a negative sight for Tesla, one auto technology expert previously told BI before the settlement was made public that Tesla was unlikely to face serious consequences. Ta.
“This is one lawsuit, and if Tesla ends up paying damages, it could be absorbed by Tesla,'' said Bryant Walker Smith, a law professor at the University of South Carolina. He talked about the possibility of losing the case. However, he said Autopilot mode may be subject to “increased regulatory oversight.”
Tesla has filed a motion seeking to seal the settlement.
According to the complaint, Huang was driving on Interstate 101 in Mountain View, Calif., when he approached an exit ramp and was traveling at about 70 mph when his Tesla's autopilot veered off his designated lane, causing him to crash into a concrete wall. It is said that he ran into a fence.
An investigation conducted by the National Transportation Safety Board determined that Autopilot and Huang's inattention were likely contributing factors to the accident. The NTSB concluded that Mr. Huang was likely playing games on his cell phone before the accident.
Tesla previously blamed Huang for the accident in court filings. The company said Huang knew the car was not “self-driving” and that he was “not paying attention.” The company said the accident could have been avoided if Huang had been careful.
