Due to a fatal accident caused by an autonomous driving Tesla vehicle 6 years ago, Tesla, Inc. (TSLA.US) was ordered to pay $329 million.

A jury in Miami, Florida, United States ruled that Tesla, Inc. (TSLA.US) should bear partial responsibility for a deadly self-driving accident in 2019, and ordered the company to compensate the families of the victims and a survivor a total of $329 million in damages. Of this amount, $129 million is compensatory damages, while an additional $200 million is punitive damages against Tesla, Inc. The plaintiff's attorneys had requested compensation of around $345 million during the trial. The trial took place on July 14 in a Southern District Court in Florida. The focus of the case was on who should be held responsible for the deadly accident. The car owner George McGee was driving a Tesla, Inc. Model S electric car equipped with an "Enhanced Autopilot" system. The accident occurred in Key Largo, Florida, when McGee accidentally dropped his phone while driving. In the process of trying to pick up his phone, the vehicle accelerated through an intersection without slowing down, reaching speeds of over 60 mph, and then collided with an empty vehicle parked on the side of the road. The owner of the empty vehicle was standing on the other side of the car and was directly affected by the impact. The accident resulted in the immediate death of 22-year-old Naibel Benavides, whose body was found about 75 feet away from the point of impact. Her boyfriend Dillon Angulo survived but suffered multiple fractures, severe brain injuries, and psychological trauma. Plaintiff's attorney Brett Schreiber stated in a declaration, "Tesla, Inc. knowingly designed the self-driving system only for highway use but intentionally did not restrict its use on other roads. Meanwhile, Musk publicly claimed that 'Autopilot drives better than humans'. Tesla, Inc.s lies turned our roads into a runway for their technology tests, and ultimately harmed ordinary Americans like Naibel and Dillon." After the ruling was announced, the families of the plaintiffs celebrated with their lawyers, while survivor Angulo embraced his mother tightly in court, showing strong emotions. Tesla, Inc. later stated to the media that they will appeal the decision, and said, "Today's ruling is incorrect and will hinder progress in vehicle safety, jeopardizing efforts by Tesla, Inc. and the entire industry to develop and promote life-saving technology." This ruling comes at a time when Tesla, Inc. CEO Musk is trying to sell his vision of self-driving cars to investors, emphasizing the company's ability to operate a fleet of self-driving taxis on American roads and guaranteeing the safety of its system. However, on Friday, Tesla, Inc. stock fell more than 1.8%, with a cumulative decline of 25% this year, making it one of the largest declines among all major tech companies. This ruling could have a significant impact on similar lawsuits in the future. Currently, there are about ten lawsuits in the United States against Tesla, Inc.'s self-driving systems (including Autopilot and FSD, or "Full Self-Driving (Supervised)") in progress, with many cases related to the system being enabled during accidents. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) began investigating possible safety defects in the Autopilot system in 2021. Tesla, Inc. subsequently issued multiple over-the-air (OTA) software updates to the system. The agency has also launched a second investigation that is ongoing, to assess the effectiveness of Tesla, Inc.'s "recall remedies" for issues related to stationary emergency vehicles. NHTSA also warned Tesla, Inc. that some of its promotional material on social media may mislead users into thinking that vehicles can achieve fully autonomous driving, while the user manual clearly states that drivers need to control the steering wheel and brakes at all times during vehicle use. According to data from the website TeslaDeaths.com, which tracks accidents related to Tesla, Inc.'s self-driving systems, at least 58 fatal accidents have occurred shortly after drivers activated the Autopilot system.