Elon Musk's Tesla Did Not Maintain Autopilot Crash Records, Engineer Says Amid Fatal 2019 Accident Trial In Miami
An engineer working with Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) has admitted that the company failed to keep crash records for its Autopilot Advanced Driver Assistance System during a trial involving the death of a bystander after they were hit by a Tesla Model S on Autopilot in 2019.
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What Happened: The EV giant did not maintain crash records until 2018, over three years after launching the Autopilot feature, Electrek reported on Wednesday.
The fatal accident took place in Key Largo, Florida, in 2019 when George McGee's Tesla Model S blew past a stop sign at an intersection and crashed into a parked SUV while on Autopilot as McGee looked down to pick up his dropped phone.
The crash resulted in the death of Naibel Benavides Leon, a 22-year-old woman. The plaintiffs filed a lawsuit against Tesla, alleging that the company misrepresented the feature's capabilities and safety, according to the report.
The engineer, Akshay Pathak, said in his testimony to the court that Tesla did not maintain records of crashes involving the Autopilot feature.
Why It Matters: The news comes as Tesla had recently filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit over the death of Leon, which was rejected by the court, saying that the plaintiffs can proceed with the motion to seek punitive damages from the EV giant.
The company also faces a wrongful death lawsuit over a 2024 crash in New Jersey involving a Model S on self-driving mode veering off the road. The crash resulted in the deaths of three people.
Tesla has faced scrutiny over its self-driving systems following a Tesla Model 3 getting struck by a train after it was stuck on the railroad tracks while in self-driving mode.
The NHTSA, or National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, too, is investigating possible traffic violations committed by the Tesla Model Y Robotaxi on FSD during last month's launch event in Austin.
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