A Florida jury has ordered Tesla to pay $243 million in damages after concluding its Autopilot software caused a catastrophic 2019 collision that killed 50-year-old software engineer Marcus Smith. The verdict—one of the largest ever against the automaker—follows a three-week trial where newly uncovered internal documents revealed Tesla engineers had flagged critical safety flaws in Autopilot’s object-detection system months before the fatal crash.
Smith was driving his Tesla Model 3 on a Miami highway when the vehicle, operating on Autopilot, accelerated into a disabled tractor-trailer at 70 mph. The car’s sensors failed to recognize the truck’s elevated position, a known flaw Tesla allegedly dismissed as "statistically insignificant" in internal memos.
Damning Evidence Goes Viral
During the trial, plaintiffs’ attorneys presented emails showing Tesla’s engineering team had warned executives in 2018 that Autopilot struggled to identify "high-riding stationary objects" like delivery trucks or emergency vehicles. One engineer explicitly called for "immediate over-the-air updates" to address the risk.
The warnings went unheeded. Shockingly, Tesla’s own data logs proved Smith had repeatedly jerked the steering wheel to override Autopilot in the minutes before impact—evidence the jury cited as proof the system ignored driver disengagement attempts.
For a detailed breakdown of the technical evidence, Reuters obtained exclusive testimony from Tesla’s lead engineer, who admitted under oath that "the system prioritized smooth highway navigation over collision avoidance in edge cases."
$200M Punitive Damages: A Message to Musk?
The $243 million total—including $200 million in punitive damages—signals the jury’s fury over Tesla’s handling of safety concerns. Internal slides revealed Autopilot’s marketing team pushed to downplay limitations, with one 2018 presentation urging sales staff to "emphasize hands-free capability" despite engineers’ objections.
Business Insider’s analysis of the verdict highlights how CEO Elon Musk’s public statements boasting Autopilot’s safety "10x better than human drivers" backfired spectacularly. Jurors saw tweets where Musk dismissed crash reports as "user error," contradicting Tesla’s internal data.
Fallout and Tesla’s Silence
The Smith family’s attorney, Laura Chen, called the verdict "a wake-up call for an industry racing toward autonomy without accountability." Tesla faces 12 similar federal lawsuits over Autopilot crashes, with this case setting a pivotal precedent.
Tesla, which removed radar sensors from Autopilot hardware in 2021 citing cost, has not commented. The NHTSA is now reviewing 40 open investigations into Tesla crashes—a move that could trigger mass recalls.