In yet another blow to Tesla, a Florida jury has delivered a historic verdict, ordering Tesla to pay $243 million in damages fine for a fatal crash in 2019 involving its Autopilot system.
The ruling, which judged Tesla as largely liable for the death of 22-year-old Naibel Benavides Leon and severe injuries to her boyfriend, Dillon Angulo, could make governments and car manufacturers rethink the legal framework for autonomous driving technology.
The incident occurred on April 25, 2019, in Key Largo, Florida, when George McGee, who was driving a Tesla Model S at 62 mph, ran a stop sign and crashed into a parked Chevrolet Tahoe. Benavides Leon and Angulo were standing beside the vehicle when the collision occurred. Benavides Leon was instantly killed, while Angulo sustained a traumatic brain injury, broken bones, and lasting psychological trauma. Even though McGee admitted to reaching for his dropped phone, the jury found that Tesla’s Autopilot was to blame as it was engaged at the time and failed to warn him or brake.
The Miami federal court awarded $129 million in compensatory damages, with Tesla liable for 33 per cent ($42.6 million), and $200 million in punitive damages in order to punish Tesla for reckless conduct. The plaintiffs’ attorney argued that Tesla “designed Autopilot only for controlled-access highways yet deliberately chose not to restrict drivers from using it elsewhere,” which misled drivers through exaggerated marketing claims. Schreiber said the jury’s decision was “justice for Naibel’s tragic death and Dillon’s lifelong injuries.”
$243M Tesla Autopilot fine calls into question definition of “safe”
Tesla, which plans to appeal, called the verdict “wrong” and a setback for automotive safety, insisting that “no car in 2019, and none today, would have prevented this crash.” The company maintained that McGee was entirely at fault and stressed that Autopilot requires constant driver oversight. However, the jury’s decision to assign Tesla a large slice of the responsibility shows concerns about the system’s limitations and Tesla’s marketing, which has touted Autopilot as safer than human drivers.
This trial, the first involving a third-party wrongful death linked to Autopilot, sets a precedent for Tesla’s legal battles. With about a dozen similar lawsuits pending, experts predict the court ruling sets a precedent that could encourage more litigation and increased settlement costs.
The ruling comes at a critical time for Tesla, whose shares are down 25 per cent in 2025. Musk is currently attempting to expand Tesla’s robotaxi business while relying on an advanced version of its driver-assistance software. However, the verdict challenges the company’s definition of “safe” in its marketing. With Tesla’s $1 trillion market value tied to its AI and robotics ambitions, the outcome may complicate efforts to win over investors and regulators.
Tesla fine for its Autopilot raises doubts in Europe
Doubts over how safe autonomous vehicles are around the world linger. The Florida verdict arrives as Europe explores a patchwork of regulations for autonomous vehicles, with significant implications for automakers’ ambitions. In countries like Italy, Poland, Greece, and Spain, autonomous vehicles beyond Level 2 advanced driver-assistance systems are still largely prohibited on public roads due to the absence of specific legal frameworks, which restricts their use to testing with special permits.
On the other hand, nations like France, the United Kingdom, Sweden, and Switzerland have embraced much higher levels of autonomy in vehicles, and permit Level 3 and, in some cases, Level 4 vehicles on certain routes or with safety drivers, as seen in France’s 2022 regulations and the UK’s Automated Vehicles Act of 2027. Germany, a pioneer in autonomous driving, is much more permissive with its 2021 Autonomous Driving Act, which allows Level 3 systems like Mercedes-Benz’s Drive Pilot on autobahns and Level 4 vehicles in other areas and sets a benchmark for Tesla’s planned Full Self-Driving rollout in 2025. However, one alarming trend in German Tesla drivers is emerging. The Tesla Autopilot system requires drivers to still keep two hands on the steering wheel at all times. The trend among many drivers is to tie two bottles of mineral water to each side of the steering wheel to trick the onboard computer into thinking that the driver is still attentive to the road.
