Overview

• A Miami jury held Tesla 33 percent liable for the April 2019 Key Largo collision that killed Naibel Benavides Leon and injured Dillon Angulo, citing a defect in Enhanced Autopilot.
• Jurors awarded $129 million in compensatory damages and $200 million in punitive damages after rejecting Tesla’s argument that driver error alone caused the crash.
• Plaintiffs’ lawyers argued that Tesla oversold Autopilot’s capabilities and encouraged drivers to rely on software that required constant oversight.
• The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has reported a “critical safety gap” in Autopilot that has contributed to at least 467 collisions, including 13 fatalities.
• Tesla announced plans to appeal the verdict, warning that the decision could undermine broader efforts to deploy automated driving technologies.