Musk-run Tesla wins Autopilot crash case in US

San Francisco, April 22

In some relief for Tesla CEO Elon Musk, jurors in an Autopilot-related 2019 crash in the US have given the verdict in favour of the electric car company.

The jury in the California state court awarded plaintiff Justine Hsu, who sued Tesla in 2020, no damages, reports The Verge.

The jurors found that the Tesla Autopilot software "wasn't at fault in a crash where the car turned into a median on a city street while Autopilot was engaged".

Tesla is under intense scrutiny for its Autopilot and its Full Self-Driving (FSD) driver assistance features.

In February, Tesla received a clean chit from the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) in a fatal crash involving a Tesla Model S Autopilot system in 2021.

The US transportation agency determined that the "probable cause of the Spring, Texas, electric vehicle crash was the driver's excessive speed and failure to control his car".

As for Autopilot, the NTSB determined it wasn't in use because the system is not programmed to not go faster than 30 mph on the street the Tesla last travelled.

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is also investigating self-driving claims made by Musk.

The SEC probe is to determine if the electric car-maker flouted its rules in promoting its full-self driving (FSD) and Autopilot software.

In February, Tesla paused the rollout of its Full Self-Driving beta software in the US and Canada following a recall of the system.