Tesla's Autopilot system is in the spotlight at a Miami trial over a student killed while stargazing
Tesla lays the blame solely on the driver, who was reaching for a dropped cell phone. 'The evidence clearly shows that this crash had nothing to do with Tesla's Autopilot technology,' Tesla said in a statement. 'Instead, like so many unfortunate accidents since cellphones were invented, this was caused by a distracted driver.' The driver, George McGee, was sued separately by the plaintiffs. That case was settled. A judgement against Tesla could be especially damaging as the company works to convince the public its self-driving technology is safe during a planned rollout of hundreds of thousands of Tesla robotaxis on US roads by the end of next year.
A jury trial is rare for the company, which often settles lawsuits, and this one is rarer yet because a judge recently ruled that the family of the stricken Naibel Benavides Leon can argue for punitive damages. The judge, Beth Bloom of the US District Court for the Southern District of Florida, issued a partial summary judgement last month throwing out charges of defective manufacturing and negligent misrepresentation against Tesla. But she also ruled plaintiffs could argue other claims that would make the company liable and ask for punitive damages, which could prove costly. 'A reasonable jury could find that Tesla acted in reckless disregard of human life for the sake of developing their product and maximizing profit,' Bloom said in a filing.
The 2021 lawsuit alleges the driver relied on Autopilot to reduce speed or come to a stop when it detected objects in its way, including a parked Chevrolet Tahoe that Benavides and her boyfriend, Dillon Angulo, had gotten out of near Key West, Florida, to look up at the sky. The Tesla rammed the Tahoe at highway speeds, causing it to rotate and slam into Benavides, tossing her into a wooded area and killing her. In legal documents, Tesla denied nearly all of the lawsuit's allegations and said it expects that consumers will follow warnings in the vehicle and instructions in the owner's manual, as well as comply with driving laws. Tesla warns owners in manuals that its cars cannot drive themselves and they need to be ready to intervene at all times.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Al Arabiya
2 hours ago
- Al Arabiya
Chiefs' Rashee Rice to participate in training camp despite jail sentence
St. Joseph, Mo. – Rashee Rice will be a full participant in training camp, Chiefs coach Andy Reid said Sunday, three days after the standout wide receiver was sentenced to 30 days in jail after authorities said he and another speeding driver caused a chain-reaction crash that left multiple people injured on a Dallas highway last year. Whether he will be able to fully participate in the regular season remains to be seen. Reid said on the eve of camp beginning that he has not been told by the NFL whether Rice will serve a suspension, though it is widely expected. NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy acknowledged last week, 'We have been closely monitoring all developments in the matter, which remains under review.' For all the latest headlines, follow our Google News channel online or via the app. 'We're going to progress as normal with him,' Reid said on the campus of Missouri Western State University. 'He'll go in and take all the reps that he'll normally take. We always rotate that position. Depending on what happens here with the future – whoever needs to play will step in and know what they are doing and be in good shape to do it.' Rice pleaded guilty to two third-degree felony charges of collision involving serious bodily injury and racing on a highway causing bodily injury in the March 30, 2024, crash. As part of a plea agreement, prosecutors said Rice was sentenced to five years of deferred probation and 30 days in jail as a condition of his probation. The Dallas County District Attorney's Office said that the 25-year-old Rice, who will have some flexibility in when he must serve the jail time, also was required to pay the victims for their out-of-pocket medical expenses, which totaled about 115,000 dollars. Rice was driving a Lamborghini Urus SUV at 119 mph (191 kph) when he made multiple aggressive maneuvers around traffic and struck other vehicles, prosecutors said. After the crash on North Central Expressway, prosecutors said Rice failed to check on the welfare of those in the other vehicles and fled on foot. Rice said in a statement issued by his attorney that he's had a lot of sleepless nights thinking about the damages my actions caused, and I will continue working within my means to make sure that everyone impacted will be made whole. Rice got off to a flying start to his second NFL season last year, catching 24 passes for 288 yards and two touchdowns in his first three games. But in Week 4, after Patrick Mahomes had thrown an interception, the quarterback accidentally dived into Rice's leg as they were trying to make the tackle, tearing the lateral collateral ligament in his knee. Rice wound up missing the rest of the season, which culminated in a loss to Philadelphia in the Super Bowl. After spending the season rehabbing the injury, Rice was able to participate in the Chiefs offseason program, and Reid said he would not be limited by the injury in training camp. That begins with testing and meetings on Tuesday, followed by the first full-squad workout on Wednesday, when temperatures are expected to hit triple digits. 'We'll keep an eye on that,' Reid said of Rice's knee injury. 'As far as pulling back because of suspensions or whatever, you know, we're going forward. And then we'll monitor him as far as (the injury) goes.' In other news, Reid said that cornerback Kristian Fulton and right tackle Jawaan Taylor – who are dealing with their own knee injuries – would begin the season alongside tight end Tre Watson on the physically unable-to-perform list. Fulton signed a two-year, 20 million dollar contract to solidify the secondary, while Taylor is expected to start at right tackle. Reid also said first-round pick Josh Simmons, who is coming off a torn patellar tendon at Ohio State, would not be limited at the start of training camp. The Chiefs hope that Simmons is able to prove he can handle the job at left tackle, where a rotating cast of characters was unable to protect Mahomes' blind side last season. With Taylor on the PUP list, the Chiefs will start with Simmons at left tackle and Jaylon Moore – who signed a two-year, 30 million dollar deal in free agency – at right tackle. But it's possible that Moore could push Simmons for the starting job on the left side during training camp in what could be the biggest position battle for the defending AFC champions. 'We evaluate these guys every day,' Reid said. 'Whether it's a light practice or a hard day, they're evaluated and graded and so on. We'll see how it all sorts out.'
Arab News
3 hours ago
- Arab News
Request to unseal Epstein grand jury transcripts likely to disappoint, ex-prosecutors say
NEW YORK: A Justice Department request to unseal grand jury transcripts in the prosecution of chronic sexual abuser Jeffrey Epstein and his former girlfriend is unlikely to produce much, if anything, to satisfy the public's appetite for new revelations about the financier's crimes, former federal prosecutors say. Attorney Sarah Krissoff, an assistant US attorney in Manhattan from 2008 to 2021, called the request in the prosecutions of Epstein and imprisoned British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell 'a distraction.' ' The president is trying to present himself as if he's doing something here and it really is nothing,' Krissoff told The Associated Press in a weekend interview. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche made the request Friday, asking judges to unseal transcripts from grand jury proceedings that resulted in indictments against Epstein and Maxwell, saying 'transparency to the American public is of the utmost importance to this Administration.' The request came as the administration sought to contain the firestorm that followed its announcement that it would not be releasing additional files from the Epstein probe despite previously promising that it would. Epstein is dead while Maxwell serves a 20-year prison sentence Epstein killed himself at age 66 in his federal jail cell in August 2019, a month after his arrest on sex trafficking charges, while Maxwell, 63, is serving a 20-year prison sentence imposed after her December 2021 sex trafficking conviction for luring girls to be sexually abused by Epstein. Krissoff and Joshua Naftalis, a Manhattan federal prosecutor for 11 years before entering private practice in 2023, said grand jury presentations are purposely brief. Naftalis said Southern District prosecutors present just enough to a grand jury to get an indictment but 'it's not going to be everything the FBI and investigators have figured out about Maxwell and Epstein.' 'People want the entire file from however long. That's just not what this is,' he said, estimating that the transcripts, at most, probably amount to a few hundred pages. 'It's not going to be much,' Krissoff said, estimating the length at as little as 60 pages 'because the Southern District of New York's practice is to put as little information as possible into the grand jury.' 'They basically spoon feed the indictment to the grand jury. That's what we're going to see,' she said. 'I just think it's not going to be that interesting. ... I don't think it's going to be anything new.' Ex-prosecutors say grand jury transcript unlikely to be long Both ex-prosecutors said that grand jury witnesses in Manhattan are usually federal agents summarizing their witness interviews. That practice might conflict with the public perception of some state and federal grand jury proceedings, where witnesses likely to testify at a trial are brought before grand juries during lengthy proceedings prior to indictments or when grand juries are used as an investigatory tool. In Manhattan, federal prosecutors 'are trying to get a particular result so they present the case very narrowly and inform the grand jury what they want them to do,' Krissoff said. Krissoff predicted that judges who presided over the Epstein and Maxwell cases will reject the government's request. With Maxwell, a petition is before the US Supreme Court so appeals have not been exhausted. With Epstein, the charges are related to the Maxwell case and the anonymity of scores of victims who have not gone public is at stake, although Blanche requested that victim identities be protected. 'This is not a 50-, 60-, 80-year-old case,' Krissoff noted. 'There's still someone in custody.' Appeals court's 1997 ruling might matter She said citing 'public intrigue, interest and excitement' about a case was likely not enough to convince a judge to release the transcripts despite a 1997 ruling by the 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals that said judges have wide discretion and that public interest alone can justify releasing grand jury information. Krissoff called it 'mind-blowingly strange' that Washington Justice Department officials are increasingly directly filing requests and arguments in the Southern District of New York, where the prosecutor's office has long been labeled the 'Sovereign District of New York' for its independence from outside influence. 'To have the attorney general and deputy attorney general meddling in an SDNY case is unheard of,' she said. Cheryl Bader, a former federal prosecutor and Fordham Law School criminal law professor, said judges who presided over the Epstein and Maxwell cases may take weeks or months to rule. 'Especially here where the case involved witnesses or victims of sexual abuse, many of which are underage, the judge is going to be very cautious about what the judge releases,' she said. Tradition of grand jury secrecy might block release of transcripts Bader said she didn't see the government's quest aimed at satisfying the public's desire to explore conspiracy theories 'trumping — pardon the pun — the well-established notions of protecting the secrecy of the grand jury process.' 'I'm sure that all the line prosecutors who really sort of appreciate the secrecy and special relationship they have with the grand jury are not happy that DOJ is asking the court to release these transcripts,' she added. Mitchell Epner, a former federal prosecutor now in private practice, called Trump's comments and influence in the Epstein matter 'unprecedented' and 'extraordinarily unusual' because he is a sitting president. He said it was not surprising that some former prosecutors are alarmed that the request to unseal the grand jury materials came two days after the firing of Manhattan Assistant US Attorney Maurene Comey, who worked on the Epstein and Maxwell cases. 'If federal prosecutors have to worry about the professional consequences of refusing to go along with the political or personal agenda of powerful people, then we are in a very different place than I've understood the federal Department of Justice to be in over the last 30 years of my career,' he said. Krissoff said the uncertain environment that has current prosecutors feeling unsettled is shared by government employees she speaks with at other agencies as part of her work in private practice. 'The thing I hear most often is this is a strange time. Things aren't working the way we're used to them working,' she said.
Arab News
7 hours ago
- Arab News
America's AI energy revolution has global stakes
The next great American industrial revolution is not being shaped in think tanks; it is being built in real time. In Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, once a powerhouse of steel and smoke, the US has launched a future rooted in artificial intelligence, energy innovation and industrial revival. What unfolded at the Pennsylvania Energy and Innovation Summit last week was not just a domestic policy pivot. It was a global declaration. With more than $90 billion in private sector commitments, this initiative, spearheaded by the President Donald Trump-aligned state administration and welcomed by leaders on both sides of the aisle, sends a clear message to the world: the US intends to lead the AI era with power, precision and pragmatism. That message matters far beyond American borders. For leaders across the Middle East, this moment is worth watching, not just because of its scale but because of what it signals: the future of AI will be forged by the nations that control the energy, infrastructure and values that guide its use. AI is not an abstract Western luxury. It will soon define everything from national security and energy management to education, agriculture and healthcare. AI is already reshaping global trade, defense and diplomacy. In the Middle East, governments are investing heavily in smart cities, surveillance systems, digital health and fintech, all of which are powered by AI. But AI is not magic; it demands enormous amounts of energy to train, deploy and sustain. The summit in Pennsylvania highlighted this reality with refreshing honesty. Rather than chasing slogans or downplaying the environmental and industrial demands of AI, American leaders there did something rare: they confronted the energy challenge head-on. Their answer? Build data centers adjacent to power plants, particularly those utilizing natural gas and nuclear energy. This strategy, known as co-location, dramatically improves efficiency and allows for rapid expansion. It offers a potential model for energy-rich nations worldwide to consider as they scale up their own AI ambitions. Many global commentators will ask: is this American model just a return to fossil fuels? Is it an environmental rollback? The answer is not that simple. Washington is not abandoning its climate goals. However, it acknowledges a simple truth: wind and solar are essential, but they cannot yet deliver the reliable, large-scale power that AI systems need. For now, only natural gas and nuclear energy can provide that kind of steady and scalable supply. This is not about giving up on renewables; it is a practical step. A way to keep innovation moving forward while the clean energy future catches up. For Middle Eastern countries, especially those investing in AI through sovereign wealth funds and national tech strategies, this approach resonates. Gulf states like Saudi Arabia and the UAE are threading this same needle: investing in renewables while recognizing the transitional role of hydrocarbons and nuclear energy. What the US is doing in Pennsylvania may not just inspire them but also offer a playbook. At its core, the summit's announcements promise more than megawatts and microchips. They offer a blueprint for economic dignity. America's heartland, often overlooked by globalization, is being revitalized through high-skilled, future-focused jobs in energy, cybersecurity, engineering and data science. This is a model the world can learn from. Instead of viewing AI as a threat to traditional labor, the US is building an industrial policy that connects digital growth to human opportunity. The lesson is clear: if AI is built in a vacuum, it will deepen inequality. If it is built alongside energy, training and infrastructure, it can be a ladder. A new partnership model could emerge, in which US AI expertise is combined with Middle Eastern energy foresight. Dalia Al-Aqidi For Middle Eastern countries investing in youth-driven economies, that distinction is crucial. The AI revolution must be both technological and human. There is a bigger reason the summit matters: it proves that who builds AI, and the values behind it, matter. By leading with clean energy and private sector strength, America is doing more than securing its own future — it is offering a better option for others. The global market now has a choice: work with a democratic AI system built on trust and cooperation or risk getting locked into one built for control, not collaboration. Washington is not looking to go it alone. At the summit, Trump and others emphasized the importance of international cooperation, especially with energy producers and tech innovators abroad. That is where the Middle East comes in. The region is home to some of the world's most ambitious AI visions, from Saudi Arabia's NEOM to the UAE's national AI strategy. It is also home to some of the world's most valuable energy assets. A new partnership model could emerge, in which American AI expertise is combined with Middle Eastern energy foresight, leading to shared leadership in the Fourth Industrial Revolution. This is not science fiction. It is strategic alignment. Of course, no policy is perfect. Environmental concerns must be addressed and the digital divide must be bridged, not just within nations but between them. However, what is clear is that a vacuum of leadership is no longer an option. The world needs bold ideas and, more importantly, the courage to act on them. What happened in Pennsylvania is not a solution for every country. But it is a signal to all: the AI energy era has arrived and the stakes are global. What happens in places like Pittsburgh will shape how AI develops, how energy is used and how the world moves forward. This is not a threat, it is an opportunity for several nations to work together on a smarter, safer and more connected future. As we enter a new industrial age, the real questions are: who will lead it and what values will shape the path ahead?
