Kathmandu. Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, has suffered a major setback. A U.S. court has ordered Tesla to pay $243 million in damages to victims of the 2019 crash. Tesla’s autopilot driver is alleged to have caused the accident due to a fault in assistive technology.
The victims said Tesla’s system was partly responsible for the crash. 22-year-old Nabel Benavides Lyon died. Her boyfriend Dylan Angulo was seriously injured. Late at night, while watching the stars on the side of the road, their car collided.
The Tesla driver admitted that he was distracted by his cellphone. However, the jury also believed tesla’s autopilot technology had failed. So the company cannot run away from its responsibilities.
According to court records, the jury awarded Lyon’s family $200 million in punitive compensation and $59 million in damages. Angulo was given $70 million in compensation.
The victim’s lawyers accused Tesla of concealing vital evidence. This included videos and data recorded just before the crash. Tesla told the court that the footage did not exist. However, a forensic expert found that tesla’s data was missing. It proved that the company had everything. Tesla then said he had made an honest mistake.
The decision comes at a time when Elon Musk is preparing to launch Tesla’s driverless taxi service in some cities this year. Tesla has significantly improved its Autopilot system since the 2019 crash. However, this decision will raise questions about the credibility of its software in the real world.
