Legal Responsibility for Electric Vehicle Crash In Florida

A federal jury trial began in Miami on July 14, 2025, addressing a 2019 fatal crash in Key Largo, Florida, involving Tesla's Autopilot system. The lawsuit, filed by the family of Naibel Benavides, who died, and her injured boyfriend, Dillon Angulo, claims Tesla's driver-assistance technology was defective. The crash occurred when driver George McGee, distracted while using Autopilot, ran a stop sign and hit a parked SUV. Plaintiffs argue that Autopilot's attentiveness features and emergency braking failed, despite detecting obstacles. Tesla maintains that McGee was responsible, as he overrode Autopilot by accelerating. This is the first jury trial for Tesla regarding Autopilot's safety, with potential punitive damages at stake, raising questions about the system's reliability and Tesla's marketing claims.

Source: https://opentools.ai/