Tesla vs. Apple: Legal Battle Over Autopilot Crash and Driver Distraction

In an upcoming legal proceeding concerning a tragic crash in 2018 involving Tesla Inc.'s Autopilot system, the company is seeking testimony from Apple Inc. The case centers on the unfortunate demise of Apple engineer Wei “Walter” Huang, who perished in a collision while his Autopilot-enabled Model X was in operation. Tesla aims to establish that Huang was distracted by a video game on his phone at the time of the accident.

Initial investigations by the National Transportation Safety Board indicated that a video game was the primary application on Huang’s phone during the crash. However, it remains uncertain whether Huang was actively engaged in the game at that moment. Despite this uncertainty, historical data from Huang’s phone showed a pattern of active gaming during his morning commute leading up to the incident. Huang’s family contends that he simply allowed games to run in the background for data collection purposes.

Tesla, with the aid of Apple, seeks to challenge this assertion by presenting a statement from Apple engineer James Harding, who claims that Huang was actively playing the game during the crash. The family's legal team has accused Tesla and Apple of attempting to bypass the discovery process by submitting Harding's testimony as a declaration rather than through a deposition.

The trial presents a significant test for Tesla's ongoing legal strategy of attributing Autopilot-related accidents to driver distraction, with the outcome potentially setting a precedent for this defense.

This case is part of a series of legal disputes involving Tesla’s Autopilot system. In 2020, it was reported that Huang had previously raised concerns about malfunctions in the Autopilot system of his Tesla vehicle. In 2023, Tesla was absolved of responsibility in a fatal crash involving a Model 3, and a Chinese court cleared Tesla of blame for another accident in 2022.

However, in 2024, Tesla faced criticism for allegedly instilling a "false sense of security" with its self-driving technology following the death of a Tesla employee. CEO Elon Musk refuted a media report suggesting that the 2022 death of an employee might have been the first fatality involving the company's Full Self-Driving (FSD) software.