Miami Jury Finds Tesla Liable For Deadly Crash — Awards $329 Million In Damages - CleanTechnica

A Miami jury found Tesla partially liable for a deadly 2019 crash involving a 2019 Tesla Model S driven by George McGee, who had activated the Autopilot system but was manually accelerating and distracted by searching for his phone when the vehicle ran a stop-controlled T intersection. The Tesla crashed into a Chevy Tahoe, which then struck two pedestrians, killing one and severely injuring the other. The estate of the deceased sued Tesla, arguing that the Autopilot system failed to slow or stop the car at the intersection. Tesla countered that once the driver manually accelerated, many of Autopilot’s safety features were overridden and placed full blame on the driver’s negligence. After a two-week trial, the jury apportioned fault as two-thirds to the driver and one-third to Tesla, awarding $129 million in actual damages plus $200 million in punitive damages, totaling $329 million. The punitive damages were intended to punish Tesla for allegedly misleading marketing and unsafe deployment of Autopilot beyond controlled