Welcome to the Daily 5 report for Tuesday, July 15.
Automakers get sued routinely for product liability claims, and the vast majority of these cases are quietly settled out of court.
But a fatal crash case involving Tesla Inc.'s controversial Autopilot technology is going to trial in federal court in Florida and the stakes couldn't be higher for the EV maker, CEO Elon Musk and the entire auto industry.
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Musk is making a huge bet on autonomous technology and robotaxis. An adverse verdict could raise questions about the business case and risks for mass adoption of this technology.
For Tesla, the case also presents an opportunity to prove driver error is the main cause of such accidents. We've all seen videos of people putting their lives in the hands of Autopilot and paying zero attention to the road. A Tesla win could set a precedent for assigning fault to drivers' misuse of Autopilot — despite a name that suggests the car drives itself without risk.
For the industry, autonomous vehicles and robotaxis are finally gaining momentum, as Pete Bigelow explained in this comprehensive review on Monday. If the jury in Florida comes down hard on Tesla, the liability risks for autonomous and self-driving technology could rise.
Michael Brooks, executive director of the Center for Auto Safety, a consumer advocacy group, said the case will be the first to test the theory of liability that Tesla failed to warn consumers about the limitations of its driver-assistance system, Bloomberg reported.
"This case has the potential to set a marker in the sand about just how far juries are willing to go one way or the other," Brooks told Bloomberg. "The interesting part of this case will be seeing how much blame the jury places on the driver, but also how much blame they want to place on Tesla."
You rarely see stories about Japanese automakers shutting down assembly plants in their home country. But the dire financial situation at Nissan Motor Co. signaled the demise of the company's flagship Oppama plant. Opened in 1961, the plant will cease production by March 2028, Nissan said today. The plant employs about 2,400 people.
That's it for now. Have a great rest of your day. If you want to read this story in your browser, click here.
— Philip Nussel, online editor
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