Tesla has reached a settlement with the family of a driver who tragically died while using its Autopilot technology. This agreement has prevented a public court hearing that could have potentially scrutinized Elon Musk's self-driving software.
In 2018, a Tesla Model X vehicle outside San Francisco drove into a barrier, killing an Apple engineer in the driver's seat. The accident was caused by the driver's use of Autopilot. A lawsuit was filed against Tesla, which the company eventually settled.
Reuters reports that a five-year court struggle came to a finish with a covert agreement the day before the trial was supposed to start. The details, however, were kept under wraps.
READ NEXT : Tesla Investors Express Frustration with CEO Elon Musk as Cybertrucks Encounter More Issues
Tesla's Autopilot Blamed for Apple Engineer's Death in 2018
Walter Huang, a 38-year-old software engineer at Apple, was involved in a March 2018 accident in Mountain View, California, when his Tesla Model X smashed into a safety barrier at around 70 mph while in Autopilot mode.
According to Fox Business, the National Transportation and Safety Board (NTSB) said that Huang had informed them about issues with the Autopilot function on his previous trips, in which the vehicle veered into a space between a highway ramp and the left lane. This section of road, called the "gore area," is off-limits to vehicles in motion.
The car's data revealed that Huang had already made course corrections on previous trips after the vehicle had guided itself to the said area.
The NTSB found no evidence that Huang had his hands on the wheel in the six seconds leading up to the collision that killed him. The authorities said in the same report that they did not find any indication of evasive maneuvers or brakes.
However, the investigation revealed that Huang had been engaged in a smartphone game before the accident.
Autopilot allegedly led Huang's vehicle into a highway barrier, according to his family. Huang's lawyers questioned if Tesla knew that users would not or could not utilize the technology as instructed.
But the fact that Huang was preoccupied with a video game, according to Tesla, makes it even more unlikely that he used Autopilot properly.
Join the Conversation