The civil lawsuit, filed in Riverside County Superior Court, alleges that Tesla's ADAS (advanced driver-assistance systems) caused a Model 3 to suddenly veer off a highway east of Los Angeles at 65 mph (104 km/h), hit a palm tree and burst into flames.
The 2019 crash killed owner Micah Lee and seriously injured two passengers, according to court documents. The trial featured gruesome testimony about the injuries suffered by the passengers, including a then-8-year-old boy who was disemboweled.
The plaintiffs - the two surviving passengers - asked the jury for $400 million plus punitive damages, accusing Tesla of knowing the Autopilot feature and other safety systems were defective when it sold the car.
Tesla denied liability, saying Lee had consumed alcohol before driving. The company also noted that it was unclear whether Autopilot was engaged at the time of the accident.
After four days of deliberations, the 12-member jury announced they found the vehicle did not have a manufacturing defect; the vote was 9-3 in Tesla's favor. The verdict appears to support Tesla's arguments that the ultimate responsibility rests with drivers when something goes wrong on the road.
"The jury's conclusion was the right one," the company said in a statement, adding that its cars are well designed and make the roads safer. Replying to a tweet about the news, Elon Musk noted on X that Autopilot would "almost certainly" have saved the driver if had been turned on.
Jonathan Michaels, an attorney for the plaintiffs, said he was disappointed in the verdict but noted in a statement that Tesla was "pushed to its limits" during the trial. "The jury's prolonged deliberation suggests that the verdict still casts a shadow of uncertainty," he said.
Tesla says it informs drivers that its technology requires human supervision, though its use of the names "Autopilot" and "Full Self-Driving" might suggest otherwise.
The verdict in the Riverside case is Tesla's second major victory this year in which juries have declined to find that its software was defective. The EV maker won an earlier trial in Los Angeles in April over an accident in which a Model S swerved into a curb and injured its driver.
In that case, jurors told Reuters after the verdict that they believed driver distraction was to blame since Tesla had warned drivers about its system.
Source: Reuters
