Tesla driver faces trial over death crash

THE driver of a Tesla car operating on autopilot must stand trial over a crash that killed two people in a Los Angeles suburb, a US judge has ruled.

There is enough evidence to try Kevin George Aziz Riad, 27, on two counts of vehicular manslaughter, a Los Angeles County judge said.

Police said the Tesla Model S left a major road and ran a red light in Gardena and was doing 74mph when it smashed into a Honda Civic at an intersection on December 29, 2019.

The crash killed Gilberto Alcazar Lopez, 40, of Rancho Dominguez, and Maria

Guadalupe Nieves-lopez, 39, of Lynwood, who were in the Civic and were on their first date that night, relatives told the Orange County Register.

Riad and a woman in the Tesla were taken to hospital with minor injuries.

Prosecutors said the Tesla’s Autosteer and Traffic Aware Cruise Control were active.