(ORDO NEWS) — In the United States, for the first time, a Tesla driver will be tried for causing an accident while driving on autopilot.
The trial, which will sort out the fatal accident that happened in 2019, will begin in Los Angeles on November 15.
Defendant Kevin George Aziz Riad was driving a Tesla car, which, in autopilot mode, drove through a red traffic light and rammed a Honda Civic – the driver and passenger in the car died on the spot.
According to the interlocutors of Reuters, because of the accident, Tesla’s autopilot system will be under scrutiny.
According to agency sources, the US Department of Justice is studying whether Tesla should be held accountable. Lawyers and experts in the field of unmanned vehicles interviewed by journalists saw a confrontation between man and machine in the future litigation.
“It will be difficult for the state to prove the guilt of a human driver, because Tesla performs some parts of the task,” said Edward Walters, a professor at the Georgetown University School of Law.
The litigation will help answer the question of whether technology is ahead of legal standards, experts say.
“I can’t say that the driver is not at fault, but the Tesla system, autopilot and Tesla representatives encourage drivers to be less attentive,” said lawyer Donald Slavik, representing the interests of the relatives of those killed in the accident.
Tesla knows its autopilot system isn’t fully functional, Slavik said, but they’re giving regular drivers access to it.
At the end of October, it became known that Tesla would not receive approval for the release of a full autopilot until the end of the year. The company failed to convince the authorities that its cars can move without a person behind the wheel.
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