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According to court documents, the woman bought a Tesla Model X in December 2016 for 112,640 euros ($114,500) and paid an additional 5,500 euros ($5,580) for the Autopilot feature. The car was delivered in March 2017, and already in November of the same year, problems began with Autopilot, Business Insider reported.
The court granted the complaint about the malfunction of the Autopilot system. The court ruling states that the system did not reliably identify obstacles and that the brakes may have applied suddenly for no apparent reason. The court also ruled that sudden braking poses a "serious danger" to city traffic.
Tesla's lawyers argued that the Autopilot system was not intended for use in city traffic, but the court did not accept that argument in its decision. The decision stated that manually turning on and off the autonomous driving system for various types of traffic can be distracting for the driver.
In addition, the court satisfied the plaintiff's complaints about problems not related to the Autopilot system of the car. In particular, the fact that the Model X doors did not open and close properly.
The case sets an uncomfortable precedent for Tesla, which is under scrutiny from regulators because of its Autopilot system. It is a driving assistance system that allows the car to move and brake automatically. Tesla warns on its website that Autopilot does not make cars fully autonomous and requires "active driver control."
The US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is currently investigating 11 cases where Tesla vehicles crashed into emergency vehicles while using the Autopilot system. In addition, cases of "phantom braking" are being investigated, when cars with active "Autopilot" brake for no apparent reason.
