Tesla, which is known for its semi-autonomous driving software, has reached a settlement with the family of a Silicon Valley developer who was allegedly hired by Apple and died in a crash five years ago. Prior to Tuesday, April 9 market opening, shares of Tesla Inc. fell 1%. Year to date (YTD), the company’s shares have lost 30%.
In court filings filed on Monday, April 8, one day before the trial for the 2018 incident on a San Francisco Bay Area highway was slated to start, Tesla did not reveal the amount it paid to settle the lawsuit, according to an Associated Press story.
Mishap with the Autopilot mode
After his Model X, which was traveling on autopilot, struck a road barrier, Walter Huang, an Apple engineer, perished in the collision. The Huang family sued Tesla and, consequently, CEO Elon Musk in 2019 for negligence and wrongful death, claiming that Tesla has consistently overstated the capabilities of its self-driving car technology.
The technology, known as Autopilot, according to Huang’s family was advertised in such a way as to lead car owners to feel as though they could drive without being alert. When Huang collided with a concrete highway barrier on March 23, 2018, the AP article states that evidence suggested he was engaged in a video game on his iPhone.
