Tesla reaches agreement in lawsuit for fatal crash involving its autopilot

Tesla reached a settlement with the family of an engineer who died six years ago when one of his Model

The jury trial was set to begin next week in response to a wrongful death lawsuit accusing the U.S. manufacturer, owned by mogul Elon Musk, of failing to keep its promises about safety and driver-assist technology.

In court documents accessed by AFP, it is stated that Tesla and the family of Wei Lun Huang, a former Apple engineer, reached an agreement and that the company asked that the amount involved remain secret.

The lawsuit filed in 2019 claimed that Tesla’s Autopilot assist system, which was activated at the time of the fatal crash, “failed to detect highway lane markings, failed to detect the concrete separator, and failed to brake the vehicle.” vehicle, but accelerated it.”

Huang was traveling on a highway in the California city of Mountain View, in the western United States, in March 2018, using the Autopilot function, when the Model X crashed, fatally injuring him, according to the complaint.

That software adapts the speed to traffic and keeps the vehicle in a lane, according to Tesla.

Huang’s family argues in court filings that Tesla was negligent and careless in the construction and marketing of the 2017 Model X.

The US regulator determined that Huang did not have his hands on the wheel at the time of the accident, despite Autopilot alerts to do so.

Tesla has defended the safety of its cars and the features of its driver-assistance technology, which it has warned does not free drivers from paying attention to the road.