Tesla is being sued by the family of Wei “Walter” Huang, a software engineer who died when his Model X with Autopilot engaged crashed into a street safety barrier in March 2018.
In the complaint, the family claims that Huang’s Model X lacked safety features, like an emergency braking system that is automatic. Features are available on less expensive vehicles as well as on more recent Model Xs, Huang’s family said. The Model X does include automatic emergency braking, according to the owner’s manual.
According to Bloomberg:
The family alleges that Tesla knew, or should have known, “that the Tesla Model X was likely to cause injury by leaving travel lanes and striking objects when used in a manner that is reasonably foreseeable. ” The carmaker should have issued a recall or provided ldquo & a warning; in light of the danger of injury, & rdquo .
Huang died because “Tesla is beta testing its Autopilot applications on live drivers,” B. Mark Fong, a lawyer for the family, said in a statement to Bloomberg. “The Huang family wishes to help prevent this tragedy from happening to other motorists using Tesla vehicles or any semi-autonomous vehicles. ”
Huang was traveling south on US Highway 101 on March 23rd, 2018, when his Model X P100D smashed into a divider that divides the carpool lane by the off-ramp to the left’s safety barrier section. The end of his SUV was ripped apart, the vehicle caught fire, and two cars crashed into the back end. Huang was removed from the car by rescuers and brought to Stanford Hospital where he died from injuries sustained in the crash.
In June, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) published a preliminary report that attributed the crash to a navigation error by Autopilot. Tesla has been removed from the NTSB’s investigation into a fatal Autopilot accident that happened in March, the agency announced today. The NTSB says it took the action because Tesla had published “& rdquo; the agency veted and supported investigative information before it.
Tesla introduced its Navigate on Autopilot feature, which guides the vehicle from on-ramp into off-ramp, in October 2018.
A Tesla spokesperson declined to comment on the lawsuit, and instead pointed to the organization ’s earlier announcement on the deadly crash. In that announcement, the organization said that a safety barrier, known as a crash attenuator, contributed to the severity of the crash. Tesla also said that Huang had “about five seconds and 150 meters of unobstructed view” of the cement divider before his vehicle smashed into it with the safety barrier.
The lawsuit comes a week after Tesla CEO Elon Musk hosted an “Autonomy Day” for investors to tout his company’s plans to launch a fleet of autonomous robotaxis in 2020.
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