Tesla engineer defends 'full self-driving' name at crash trial
Tesla engineer in court on Wednesday rejected a lawyer's suggestion that the company named its driver-assistant feature «Full Self-Driving» because it wanted people to believe that its systems had more abilities than was really the case.
The electric vehicle maker is defending itself at the first US trial over allegations that Tesla's Autopilot feature led to a death. The lawsuit, filed in a California state court, alleges the Autopilot system caused owner Micah Lee's Model 3 to suddenly veer off a highway east of Los Angeles at 65 miles per hour (105 kph), strike a palm tree and burst into flames, all in the span of seconds.
Elevate Your Tech Prowess with High-Value Skill Courses
Offering CollegeCourseWebsiteIndian School of BusinessISB Digital TransformationVisitIndian School of BusinessISB Product ManagementVisitIndian School of BusinessISB Professional Certificate in Product ManagementVisitNorthwestern UniversityKellogg Post Graduate Certificate in Product ManagementVisit The 2019 crash killed Lee and seriously injured his two passengers. The lawsuit accuses Tesla of knowing that Autopilot and other safety systems were defective when it sold the car.
Tesla denies the claims, saying it is not even clear whether Autopilot was engaged at the moment Lee's car crashed.
The EV maker has been testing and rolling out its Autopilot and more advanced Full Self-Driving (FSD) system, which Chief Executive Elon Musk has touted as crucial to his company's future but which has drawn regulatory and legal scrutiny.
The 37-year-old Lee bought Tesla's «full self-driving capability package» for $6,000 for his Model 3 in 2019. At that time, the FSD package performed functions such as maintaining distance from a vehicle in front and
