Tesla has settled two lawsuits related to separate fatal accidents in 2019 involving the company's Autopilot technology.
As reported by Reuters, the electric vehicle manufacturer reached confidential settlements just one month before a pair of trials were set to begin. The news comes on the heels of another high-profile court case in which a Florida jury ordered Tesla to pay $243 million to the family of a woman killed in a fatal 2019 crash.
While details surrounding the recent settlements were not disclosed, they became the latest in a growing line of controversies surrounding Tesla's Autopilot technology. In August 2019, a 15-year-old passenger was killed in a crash in Alameda County, California, when the car he was traveling in was rear-ended by a Tesla Model 3 operating on Autopilot mode. The victim was ejected from their vehicle before succumbing to their injuries.
Just four months later, a car accident in Gardena, California, claimed the lives of a driver and their passenger after their Tesla Model S failed to stop at a red light and crashed into another car at high speed. Once again, the Tesla was operating in Autopilot mode at the time of the fatal crash.
Due to an increased rate of incidents involving Autopilot and Full Self-Driving technology, Tesla has been the subject of safety investigations by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and other government organizations worldwide. According to Tesla, when FSD is active, drivers must keep their hands on the wheel and pay attention at all times. This ensures the ability to take immediate action to disengage the system when necessary.
However, there have been many concerns regarding deceptive marketing claims that mislead consumers about the system's capabilities. In France, officials at the Directorate-General for Competition, Consumer Affairs, and Fraud Prevention issued a warning to Tesla, claiming that the company had marketed its vehicles as offering a hands-off experience.
While Tesla has continued to make improvements to its Autopilot and FSD technologies and remains a household name in electric vehicle technology that saves drivers money, the company has continued to struggle with declining car sales in many key automotive markets across the globe. Tesla is now also facing stiffer competition from EV manufacturers that deliver competitive pricing and impressive battery life.
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