August 2, 2025 – On August 1 locally, a jury in Florida, the United States, ruled that Tesla, the American electric vehicle manufacturer, should be partially liable for a fatal crash in 2019 involving a Model S equipped with its Autopilot system. The jury ordered the company to pay approximately $243 million in damages to the family of a deceased woman and an injured individual.
The compensation package consists of 129millionincompensatorydamages,withTeslabeingheld33200 million in punitive damages, bringing the total to around $243 million. In response, Tesla’s CEO, Elon Musk, announced on the same day that the company would appeal the Florida jury’s verdict.
It is worth noting that previous reports indicated that the accident took place in Key Largo, Florida. At the time, George McGee was driving a Tesla Model S with the Enhanced Autopilot feature activated.
McGee stated that during the drive, his phone fell, and when he bent down to pick it up, he assumed the vehicle would automatically brake upon detecting obstacles. However, the car sped into an intersection at over 96 kilometers per hour, crashing into a parked car and two people standing beside it.
The plaintiff’s lawyers argued that the Autopilot system had dangerous flaws, and that Tesla and its CEO, Musk, had made misleading statements to consumers, shareholders, and the public. On the other hand, Tesla contended that it had clearly informed users on how to use the Autopilot system, and that the accident should be attributed to McGee’s driving behavior.
