San Francisco, California: Tesla has reached a settlement with the family of an engineer who tragically lost his life in a crash involving a Model X equipped with autopilot technology in 2018. The settlement comes just before a scheduled jury trial that was set to examine claims of wrongful death and alleged discrepancies between Tesla’s marketing promises and the actual performance of its driver-assistance features.
According to court documents filed on Monday, Tesla and the family of Wei Lun Huang, the engineer who lost his life in the crash, have agreed to settle the case. The amount of the settlement has been requested to be kept confidential by Tesla.
Huang, who was using the autopilot feature on his Model X at the time of the accident, believed that the technology would ensure his safety by avoiding risks such as driving at unsafe speeds, staying within designated lanes, and avoiding collisions with other vehicles or obstacles. The fatal crash occurred when the Model X collided with a concrete median while Huang was traveling along a highway in Mountain View, California.
In response to the allegations of negligence and careless marketing of the Model X, Tesla has upheld the safety of its vehicles and autopilot features. The company emphasizes that the autopilot technology is meant to assist drivers and not to replace the need for their attention and control while driving.
US regulators had previously determined that Huang was not holding the steering wheel during the accident, despite alerts from the autopilot software reminding him to do so. This case underscores the ongoing debate surrounding the role of driver-assistance technologies in ensuring road safety and the importance of driver attentiveness even when using advanced features like autopilot.
The settlement between Tesla and Huang’s family marks the resolution of a tragic incident that raises important questions about the responsibilities of both car manufacturers and drivers in the era of autonomous and semi-autonomous vehicles. As technology continues to advance, the debate over the balance between automation and human control on the roads is likely to persist.