In a pivotal turn of events surrounding a Tesla Autopilot-related crash that killed one person and injured another, Tesla faces a $243 million verdict, raising serious questions about the retrieval and disclosure of crash data. The landmark ruling is one of the first major judgments against the electric vehicle company regarding its Autopilot system, according to Local 10 News.
Back in 2019, Naibel Benavides Leon, a young woman of 22 years old, lost her life in Key Largo when a Tesla Model S, reportedly in Autopilot mode and driven by George McGee, failed to adhere to a stop signal, striking her and her boyfriend, Dillon Angulo. In the course of litigation, Tesla initially claimed the crash data was unobtainable, yet, a hacker's intervention unearthed the critical data – a development that Tesla curiously replicated claiming they too, found the same data on their servers, after its discovery by the hacker, The Washington Post reported.
Plaintiffs' attorney Todd Poses expressed skepticism over Tesla's sudden retrieval of the data, asserting the importance of facing such issues rather than concealing them. According to Poses, in a statement obtained by Local 10 News, the plaintiffs declined a considerable settlement offer, opting instead to pursue justice through the courts. He noted that "They turned down a fortune just to make sure that a jury could hear these facts," underlining their quest for accountability over monetary compensation.
The involvement of a self-styled hacker, known by the X handle @greentheonly, was instrumental in bringing forth the data that Tesla had claimed was lost. The anonymous hacker, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of retribution, told The Washington Post, “For any reasonable person, it was obvious the data was there.” This assertion casts a shadow on Tesla's narrative, suggesting that the company could indeed have produced the collision snapshot from the outset.
This case may set a precedent, as the data revealed by the hacker played a crucial role in the lawsuit decision, with the jury deliberating for less than a day before apportioning Tesla a 33 percent liability in the accident. Tesla has since filed a motion to have the verdict overturned, but the fallout continues with new lawsuits on the horizon that cite this case. A shareholder lawsuit in Texas accuses Tesla of defrauding investors by promoting autonomous driving technology, while experts believe the verdict provides momentum to ongoing cases nationwide.
Despite the court's findings not indicating intentional withholding of data by Tesla, the judge presiding over the case ruled that Tesla must reimburse the plaintiffs for expenses incurred to retrieve the data themselves.
