Terms of the settlement weren’t disclosed in court filings made public Monday in state court in San Jose, California.
The case centered on Walter Huang, a 38-year-old
The electric-vehicle maker prevailed in two previous trials in California after juries found the accidents — one fatal and one not — were due to driver error rather than the company’s technology. Each of the trials, and more that are scheduled in coming months in California and Florida, clash with Musk’s mantra that Teslas are the safest cars ever made.
Read More:
“This is an important data point,” said Bryant Walker Smith, a University of South Carolina law professor and automated-driving expert. “It doesn’t guarantee future outcomes but it does tell the story of a company that is not publicly invincible.”
He said it’s not unusual for cases to be resolved on the eve of trial, but it is surprising that Tesla settled this one.
“At this point everybody already had their script — it’s just kind of doing the math,” he said. “I suspect each side looked at their chances and Tesla decided that publicly settling was preferable to possibly losing in court.”
Tesla and a spokesperson for the Huang family’s lawyers didn’t respond to requests for comment.
The trial would have featured testimony from several current and former Tesla engineers. The settlement comes as Musk has vowed to unveil a robotaxi on Aug. 8, roughly four months from now. As electric vehicles become more mainstream, Tesla’s push into artificial intelligence and autonomous driving has been key to its lofty valuation.
Read More:
Tesla has faced increasing regulatory scrutiny over the safety of Autopilot and the software it markets as Full Self-Driving. In December, Tesla rolled out over-the-air software updates for more than 2 million vehicles after the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
Tesla’s website describes Autopilot as “an advanced driver-assistance system that enhances safety and convenience behind the wheel.” The company says that Autopilot enables its vehicles to steer, accelerate and brake automatically, but that the system’s features require “active driver supervision and do not make the vehicle autonomous.”
Musk, Tesla’s chief executive officer, has always taken an aggressive approach to litigation. In May 2022, he announced that Tesla was building a “hardcore litigation department” that would initiate and execute lawsuits. The Austin-based company has a long history of going to great lengths to defend itself in court.
Beyond their claims against Tesla, the Huangs also alleged that California’s transportation department was partly to blame for failing to fix the barrier that had recently sustained damage from another crash. Had it been repaired, they said, it might have absorbed the impact of the Model X collision and saved Walter Huang’s life.
The court’s docket indicates that the claims against the highway department are still pending. The department’s press office didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
(Updates with law professor’s comments, Tesla’s litigation history.)
To contact the reporters on this story:
To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Peter Blumberg, Dana Hull
© 2024 Bloomberg L.P. All rights reserved. Used with permission.
Learn more about Bloomberg Law or Log In to keep reading:
See Breaking News in Context
Bloomberg Law provides trusted coverage of current events enhanced with legal analysis.
Already a subscriber?
Log in to keep reading or access research tools and resources.