Tesla settles out of court over Autopilot death crash

TESLA has settled out of court with the family of a driver killed while using its Autopilot technology, avoiding a public hearing that could have raised questions over its self-driving software.

Elon Musk’s company is paying an undisclosed amount to the family of Walter Huang, a 38-year-old Apple employee who died when his car crashed on a freeway in California.

Mr Huang was using its Autopilot driver assistance system, which is designed to keep cars in their lane and regulate their speed, when he crashed into a concrete central barrier on Route 85, near Mountain View.

Tesla is facing lawsuits and investigations over Autopilot and its more advanced Full Self Driving technology.

Elon Musk has increasingly focused on the development of the systems as competition increasingly eats away at Tesla’s advantage in electric vehicles. Last week he said Tesla would unveil a driverless “robotaxi” without a steering wheel or pedals, in August. The announcement sent Tesla’s shares almost 5pc higher on Monday.

Details of the agreement between the car maker and Mr Huang’s family were not disclosed.

The company said in legal filings that it settled “to end years of litigation”.

Tesla had argued that Mr Huang was playing a video game at the time of the crash, contravening Autopilot’s requirement for drivers to keep their eyes on the road at all times. Lawyers for Mr Huang’s family had denied this.

Mr Huang had believed Tesla’s claims that Autopilot was safer than human drivers, his widow and children had said. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), the US’S road safety regulator, investigated the incident death and concluded that Autopilot failed to keep the vehicle in its lane, but Mr Huang had probably been distracted.

The company has also received questions from the Securities and Exchange Commission and US Department of Justice regarding Autopilot, although the progress of those inquiries was unclear.

Tesla has won two previous trials over Autopilot’s safety but faces further actions in the coming months.