Tesla has settled a wrongful death lawsuit filed by the family of Walter Huang, who died after his Model X SUV crashed while the autopilot mode was on.
In 2018, Huang, an Apple engineer and father of two, had been driving on a highway in Mountain View, California on autopilot when the Model X hit a concrete barrier at 70 miles per hour.
His death was profiled in the 2022 New York Times documentary, Elon Musk’s Crash Course, which investigates fatalities allegedly stemming from Tesla’s self-driving cars.
The National Transportation Safety Board investigated Huang’s crash in 2020 and determined that Tesla’s technology was at least partially responsible for the fatal accident. The Board also pointed to construction on the highway and driver distraction – Huang was said to be playing a game on his phone at the time of the crash – as contributing factors.
A suit was filed by Huang’s family, alleging wrongful death due to safety issues in Tesla’s self-driving technology. Lawyers for the family referenced social media posts from Tesla and Elon Musk, which they say made it seem like the cars were safe on autopilot without the driver needing to interfere.
A trial was slated to begin in a California court this week and jury selection was underway when Tesla settled. The company has filed to conceal the amount of the settlement from the public.
