Tesla’s Autopilot, which has already received several complaints about system failures, will now make the owner of a car from the automaker sit in the dock for the first time. Kevin Riad, owner of a Model S, will face two counts of manslaughter, when there is no intent to kill.
California prosecutors have accepted the lawsuit against Riyadh, who had his Tesla Auto Pilot powered in December 2019, in Gardena, California, when the tragic accident took place.
According to information gathered by the AP agency, the Tesla Model S of Riyadh, even with the semi-autonomous driving system activated, did not recognize a red light and, when it did not stop at the intersection, it hit a Honda Civic. The accident caused the immediate death of Gilberto Alcazar Lopez and Maria Guadalupe Nieves-Lopez.
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This is the first time anyone has been prosecuted for a fault in the semi-autonomous driving system of a Tesla car. The victims’ families are separately suing the Model S owner for negligence and Tesla for allegedly selling a car with a manufacturing defect.
Tesla could be held criminally liable
None of the parties involved in the lawsuit is authorized to speak about the case, but Tesla reinforces, whenever it can, that Autopilot and the Full Self-Driving package do not completely exempt the driver from their actions.
According to Elon Musk’s automaker, “drivers must be alert and ready to react at any time and in any situation.” This, however, may not be enough in the courts.
Bryant Walker Smith, a law professor at the University of South Carolina who also devotes some of his professional life to studying automated vehicles, spoke to the AP about the case that went to court.
According to him, Tesla could be considered “criminally, civilly or morally guilty” if the company is found to have “put dangerous technology on the road”.
NHTSA, the US agency investigating a series of allegations against Tesla, released a statement in which it states that “no vehicle for sale can drive itself” and that “whether or not a car is using a partially automated system, Every vehicle requires the human driver to be in control at all times.”
