Tesla just avoided a lengthy trial for its iconic driver assistance technology. An agreement was reached with the family of the victim, a former Apple engineer murdered six years ago while he was behind the wheel of his Model
The amount paid to the family not disclosed.
The agreement presented on Monday before a court in San Jose, California, consulted by AFP, does not reveal the amount that the American electric vehicle manufacturer will pay to Walter Huang’s wife and two children.
The father died on March 23, 2018 in Mountain View, shortly after the accident.
In the complaint filed in 2019, the plaintiffs believe that Tesla’s “Autopilot” system, activated at the time of impact, was “defective” because it “incorrectly identified the lane markings on the highway, did not detect the concrete guardrail and not “He did not brake the car but on the contrary accelerated it” when approaching the median.
The driver did not have his hands on the wheel.
The US transportation regulator indicated in a preliminary report in June 2018 that the driver did not have his hands on the wheel at the time of the accident, despite alerts from the on-board computer.
Other complaints have been made against Elon Musk’s flagship and its controversial driver assistance system.
Last October, Tesla scored a victory when a jury determined there was no manufacturing defect in the “autopilot” of a Tesla involved in another fatal crash. A driver died in 2019 after his Model 3 turned right on a freeway near Los Angeles, hit a tree and caught fire. According to survivors, the computer had caused the car to leave the road without the possibility of regaining control.
A false impression of autopilot
This verdict, however, does not exonerate the software in general, accused by many industry players and experts of giving drivers the false impression that the car drives itself.
The “Autopilot” function allows you to adapt your speed to traffic (like adaptive cruise control) and stay on track in a lane. The automobile group specifies on its website that the driver must remain alert, with his hands on the wheel.
It is also an almost general rule: only a few models and in very specific conditions currently allow hands to be taken off the wheel, in Mercedes, in Germany and in the United States, in dense traffic and at low speed, and in Ford. , in the United Kingdom, but with the obligation to watch the road.
Tesla also offers and tests more advanced options such as changing lanes, parking assistance or taking into account traffic lights, integrated depending on the country in the options “Enhanced Autopilot” (“Enhanced Autopilot” in English-speaking countries) or “Fully capable of autonomous driving” (or FSD for “Full Autonomous Driving”).
In early 2022, Tesla had to disable an option that allowed cars to not come to a complete stop under certain conditions. Elon Musk has been promising total autonomy for next year for years, without this having yet been achieved in practice.
Source: BFM TV
