Tesla was found partially liable for a fatal 2019 Autopilot crash by a Florida federal jury Friday, with damages totalling $328 million in a case that questions the limits of driver-assistance technology.

A US federal jury on Friday found Tesla partially liable for a fatal 2019 crash involving a Model S equipped with the company's "Autopilot" driver-assistance system.

The ruling came after a civil trial in Miami, where the eight-member jury awarded a total of $328 million in compensation to the claimants, according to their lawyer, Darren Jeffrey Rousso of the law firm Rousso Boumel.

Tesla's share of the damages was set at $200 million, with the remaining $128 million allocated to the beneficiaries of the victims – Naibel Benavides Leon ($59 million) and her boyfriend, Dillon Angulo ($69 million) – for pain and suffering.

The jury determined that two-thirds of the liability falls on the at-fault driver, while Tesla bears responsibility for the remaining third.

According to Rousso, the Austin, Texas-based automaker is ultimately expected to owe $242 million in total.
"Justice has been served," Rousso told AFP, "The jury heard all the evidence and reached a just and fair verdict for our clients."

The lawsuit, filed in April 2021, alleged that on 25 April 2019, in Key Largo, Florida, the couple's Chevrolet Tahoe SUV was struck at full speed by the Tesla Model S after its Autopilot system failed to detect their vehicle.

The victim, who was 22 at the time of her death, was ejected dozens of metres upon impact, according to court filings. Her boyfriend survived with injuries, though his current condition remains undisclosed.

Tesla condemned the verdict in a statement to AFP, calling it a "step backward for road safety" that undermines automotive innovation. "We intend to appeal due to significant legal errors and irregularities during the trial," the company said.

While the jury assigned partial liability to Tesla, the automaker argued the evidence "overwhelmingly" pointed to driver error: the motorist was allegedly speeding, pressing the accelerator (which disengaged Autopilot), and distracted by retrieving a dropped phone.

"No car in 2019, and no car today, could have prevented this crash," Tesla asserted, dismissing the plaintiffs' claims as "a fiction concocted by the claimants' lawyers to blame the car when the driver – from day one – admitted and accepted his responsibility."