Tesla has to pay historic $243 million judgement over Autopilot crash, judge says
Electrek • • business
Key Points:
- A federal judge in Miami has upheld a $243 million jury verdict against Tesla over a fatal 2019 crash involving its Autopilot system, rejecting Tesla’s motion to overturn the decision and exhausting the company’s options at the trial court level.
- The 2019 crash in Florida killed Naibel Benavides Leon and severely injured Dillon Angulo when a Tesla Model S with Autopilot engaged ran a stop sign and red light, with the jury assigning Tesla 33% of the blame and awarding $43 million in compensatory and $200 million in punitive damages.
- Tesla argued the verdict was unfair and cited misleading jury references to CEO Elon Musk’s statements, but the judge found no new grounds to overturn the ruling; Tesla
