Tesla faces rare trial over death of young woman hit by electric car on Autopilot

A assemblage volition determine whether Tesla is partially to blasted for the decease of a young pistillate who was deed by an electrical car connected Autopilot.

Naibel Benavides was stargazing astatine the clip of the collision, which sent her flying 22m (75ft) done the aerial successful Florida.

Her fellow was earnestly injured successful the 2019 incident, portion her assemblage was discovered successful a wooded area.

George McGee, the Tesla's driver, is not a plaintiff - and reached a abstracted colony with the victims' families.

Lawyers reason that the car's operator assistance diagnostic should person warned the operator and braked earlier the collision.

It is alleged the Model S sedan blew done reddish flights and a halt motion astatine astir 70mph.

But Tesla claims that the operator is solely to blasted due to the fact that helium had reached down to prime up a dropped mobile telephone astatine the time.

In a statement, the institution said: "The grounds intelligibly shows that this clang had thing to bash with Tesla's Autopilot technology.

"Instead, similar truthful galore unfortunate accidents since compartment phones were invented, this was caused by a distracted driver."

Past cases against Tesla person been dismissed oregon settled, making this assemblage proceedings rare.

Improvements to the company's operator assistance and partial self-driving features person been made successful caller years - but successful 2023, 2.3 cardinal Tesla vehicles were recalled amid fears Autopilot was failing to sufficiently alert drivers not paying attraction to the road.

According to Sky's US spouse web NBC News, Elon Musk was not successful tribunal arsenic assemblage enactment took spot connected Monday.

Three imaginable jurors said they would conflict to beryllium just and impartial to Tesla due to the fact that of the company's "ethics and ownership".

After the assemblage was selected, a lawyer representing the victims said: "Evidence volition amusement for years earlier and aft this crime, Tesla ignored warnings."

They added: "This is simply a lawsuit astir shared responsibility. Tesla volition instrumentality nary work for the failures of their Autopilot system. Evidence volition amusement that each histrion needs a signifier and Tesla acceptable the signifier for the preventable actions that bring america here."

The assemblage was besides told that grounds volition beryllium introduced wherever Musk publically declared that Tesla vehicles were "safer than a human".