In 2022, Landon Embry, a motorcyclist in Utah, USA, was hit and killed by a Tesla Model 3. At that time, the car's automatic assisted driving system (Autopilot) was turned on.Now, Embry's parents are taking Tesla and Model 3 owners to court, accusing Tesla's Autopilot and other safety features of being "defective and inadequate."
According to a lawsuit filed by Embry's parents in Salt Lake City state court last week, Embry, 34, was riding his Harley when he was struck by the rear of a Model 3 with the Autopilot system on at 75-80 miles per hour, throwing him off the motorcycle and killing him on the spot.The lawsuit claims that the Model 3 owner was "drowsy while driving" and "unable to drive like an ordinary prudent driver."
The plaintiff claims in the lawsuit that Autopilot's cameras and other sensors "should have identified the danger posed by the deceased's motorcycle in front of him.""A rational and prudent vehicle owner, or a sufficiently sophisticated automatic braking system, could have slowed down or stopped the motorcycle without colliding with it," the lawsuit states.
The lawsuit intensifies scrutiny of Tesla's Autopilot and Full Self-Driving systems.U.S. police said this week that in April this year, a Tesla Model S hit and killed a 28-year-old motorcyclist in the Seattle area while the car was in FSD mode.
Also in April this year, Tesla reached a settlement over a 2018 crash.At that time, an Apple engineer's Model X turned on Autopilot and swerved on a highway near San Francisco, killing the engineer.
As of press time, Tesla has not commented.