A Miami jury found Tesla partially liable for a fatal 2019 Autopilot crash and ordered it to pay a portion of $329 million in damages to the family of the deceased and an injured survivor.
Tesla's award is based on $129 million in compensatory damages and $200 million in punitive damages.
The jury found Tesla 33% liable for the fatal accident, meaning the automaker will be liable for approximately $42.5 million in compensatory damages. Punitive damages in such cases are typically capped at three times the compensatory damages.
The plaintiffs' lawyers said Friday that because the punitive damages award is limited to Tesla, they expect Tesla to pay the full $200 million, bringing the total award to approximately $242.5 million.
Tesla said it plans to appeal the verdict.
The plaintiffs' lawyers asked the jury to base their award on the total $345 million in compensatory damages. The case goes to trial in the Southern District of Florida on July 14.
The lawsuit centers on liability in a fatal crash in Key Largo, Florida. A Tesla driver named George McGee was using Tesla's Enhanced Autopilot system while driving his Model S electric sedan.
While driving, McGee accidentally dropped his phone and attempted to pick it up. During the trial, McGee stated that he believed the system would automatically brake if it encountered an obstacle. His Model S accelerated through the intersection at 60 mph (96 km/h) and struck a nearby parked car and its owner, who was standing on the other side of the vehicle.
Naibel Benavides, 22, died at the scene from injuries sustained in the crash. Her body was found approximately 75 feet (23 meters) from the impact point. Her boyfriend, Dillon Angulo, survived but suffered multiple fractures, brain trauma, and psychological effects.
"Tesla designed Autopilot only for controlled lanes on highways, intentionally leaving it unrestricted for drivers to use elsewhere, while Elon Musk touted it as a superior driver," Brett Schreiber, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, said in an emailed statement on Friday. "Tesla's lies turned our roads into a testing ground for its fundamentally flawed technology, putting ordinary Americans like Naibel Benavides and Dillon Angulo at risk."
After the verdict, the plaintiffs' families hugged each other and their lawyers, with Angulo "overwhelmed with emotion" as he hugged his mother.
The verdict comes as Tesla CEO Elon Musk is trying to convince investors that his company can transform into a leader in autonomous vehicles and that its Autopilot system is safe enough to operate fleets of self-driving taxis on public roads in the United States.
Tesla's stock fell 1.8% on Friday, bringing its year-to-date decline to 25%, the largest drop among tech giants.
The verdict could set a precedent for Autopilot-related lawsuits against Tesla. There are currently about a dozen ongoing cases, primarily involving similar claims involving situations in which Autopilot or Tesla's FSD (Full Self-Driving (Supervised)) system was engaged immediately before a fatal or injury-causing accident.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) launched an investigation in 2021 into possible safety flaws in Tesla's Autopilot system. During the investigation, Tesla implemented several improvements, including multiple over-the-air software updates.
The agency subsequently launched a second, ongoing investigation to assess the effectiveness of Tesla's recall remedies to address issues with its Autopilot's behavior, particularly around stationary emergency vehicles.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) also warned Tesla that its social media posts could mislead drivers into believing its cars could operate as self-driving taxis, despite the fact that the owner's manuals state that these cars require drivers to keep their hands on the wheel and pay attention to steering and braking at all times.
TeslaDeaths.com, a website that tracks Tesla-related crashes, reports that at least 58 deaths have occurred in Teslas where drivers engaged Autopilot before a collision.