Tesla engages Apple in litigation over fatal autopilot accident

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Tesla will go on trial next week to prove the role of its autopilot system in a fatal crash that occurred in 2018. In doing so, Tesla intends to involve Apple in the trial.

Here's What We Know

According to pre-trial filings, Tesla is trying to prove that Apple engineer Wei "Walter" Huang was playing a video game on his phone at the time his Tesla Model X under autopilot control crashed into a road barrier in Mountain View, California. As a result of the crash, Huang was killed.

For their part, Huang's family, who have filed a lawsuit against Tesla, accuse the company of secretly working with Apple to help defend the case. Attorneys for the family claim that Tesla and Apple are attempting to introduce the testimony of Apple engineer James Harding, who is said to have established that Huang was actively playing a game at the time of the accident.

Lawyers for Huang's family call this an attempt to "circumvent the disclosure process" and are demanding that Apple provide additional material. Apple, not a party to the litigation, is moving to quash the subpoena, insisting on good faith cooperation as a third-party witness.

The trial will be a major test of Tesla's strategy, which has previously successfully avoided liability in similar accidents involving autopilot by blaming them on driver inattention. Huang's family intends to use testimony from Tesla executives who have previously admitted that they themselves used email while the autopilot was in operation.

Source: The Verge