Tesla argues that the claims concerning Musk's Autopilot system should not have been considered in the trial related to the fatal traffic accident case.

Tesla Faces $200 Million in Punitive Damages in Autopilot Wrongful Death Case

In a significant turn of events, Tesla has been ordered to pay $200 million in punitive damages in a wrongful death case related to its Autopilot system. This is the first actual trial verdict against Tesla in an Autopilot wrongful death case.

The case, which was concluded early this month, centres around a 2019 crash of a Model S in Florida. The driver, who was found 67% responsible, and Tesla were each assigned 33% responsibility for compensatory damages.

Tesla's lawyers have contested the admissible evidence, denying any wrongdoing. They argue that the verdict undermines automotive safety and threatens the efforts of Tesla and the entire industry to develop and deploy life-saving technologies. The company has announced plans to appeal the decision.

One of Tesla's main contentions seems to be with the admission of various evidence that it says prejudiced the jury against Tesla. The company has also used a "puffery" argument, claiming that Elon Musk's statements should be ignored due to his tendency to overstate the capabilities of Tesla's vehicles.

However, the courts have not thrown out the point that Tesla was caught withholding data in the case. This is a significant point that could potentially strengthen the plaintiffs' argument.

Meanwhile, plaintiffs' attorneys argue that the verdict serves not as an indictment of the autonomous vehicle industry, but of Tesla's reckless and unsafe development and deployment of its Autopilot system. They argue that Tesla's statements about its vehicles, including in the filing, could have led a driver to think that they were more capable than any other vehicle on the road.

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Interestingly, Musk has a history of relying on his Twitter account as Tesla's primary means of communication, even closing the company's PR department. The implication of this in the case remains to be seen.

As the case progresses, it will be interesting to see how Tesla responds to the verdict and whether it will impact the development and deployment of autonomous vehicle technologies in the future.