A jury will soon weigh whether Tesla's self-driving features contributed to a deadly crash in 2019.

Florida Keys

A civil trial in Florida is examining the role of Tesla's autopilot feature in a 2019 crash that resulted in the death of Nibel Benavidez Leon and critical injury to her boyfriend. The driver of the Tesla involved testified that he was distracted while using autopilot, leading to the collision. Attorneys for the deceased argue that reliance on autopilot contributed to the crash, while Tesla maintains the driver was at fault for pressing the accelerator before impact.

The judge ruled that reports from the National Transportation Safety Board cannot be presented to the jury, which is considered a setback for the plaintiffs. Testimony from a former National Highway Traffic Safety Administration official criticized Tesla's messaging around autopilot, calling it defective. The case is being closely watched as it may set a precedent for future incidents involving automated vehicle technology.

Tesla's Autopilot feature central to trial over fatal Florida crash

A civil trial resumes this week in Florida focusing on the safety of Tesla vehicles and its self-driving feature. Today the jury is set to hear from the driver of the Tesla involved in the crash at the center of this case. Let's turn now to Scripps News investigative reporter Patrick Terpstra. He has been following this case for us. Patrick, new developments over the weekend will impact what jurors learn about other crashes involving autopilot. What can you tell us about that? Absolutely, so big focus on whether there is a pattern of problems with autopilot, but today they really are going to get first-hand testimony from the driver of that Tesla Model S in 2019 that smashed into an SUV killing Nibel Benavidez Leon and critically injuring her boyfriend. That driver in video that we've reviewed telling police that he was on the phone when he dropped the phone, reached down to try to find it, and at that point barreled through a stop sign at a T intersection hitting that SUV. So attorneys for the deceased arguing that it was because he was relying on autopilot that this crash happened, but Tesla saying you know he actually had hit the gas pedal in the second before the crash, so it's up to the jury to try to figure out here exactly how much of a role did autopilot play. Over the weekend the judge siding with Tesla saying that the plaintiffs should not be able to tell the jury about a lot of reports from the National Transportation Safety Board saying that Congress has been very clear that the information from the NTSB should not be used in a civil case like that, so that is a bit of a setback from the plaintiffs. At the same time though this is day six of this trial now after the jury has heard some pretty damaging testimony from one of the experts who is a former official at NHTSA, that's the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, take a listen a look at what she had to say to the jury last week saying quote I think Tesla's corporate messaging has been one of promoting the abuse and misuse of autopilot it is my professional opinion she continues that Tesla's autopilot is defective because Tesla knowingly allows the car to be operated in operational domains in other words areas for which it is explicitly not designed for and she goes on to say I believe that they were using that as a way to sell more cars of course Tesla pushing back on that saying they have always been clear that autopilot should be used by a driver who has both hands on the wheel and is staying attentive but this is the the real heart of this case is when you have crashes like this how much of this is the fault of the technology versus the driver and this is an emerging technology so a lot of people watching this case to see what the outcome looks like as more and more cars get this automated technology right this could be a precedent-setting kind of case depending on what the outcome is and and Patrick this case is about Tesla not Elon Musk but there's still been a focus on the CEO absolutely and just in jury selection that happened last week a lot of the jurors were asked can you set aside your personal feelings about Elon Musk who's of course the CEO of Tesla some of the jury said they could not the jurors said they would not be able to do that and they were excused others said yes they could set aside their their feelings about him but it is clear watching the attorneys for Tesla they know that this is an issue they are trying to make clear that this case is not about Elon Musk but they know he is also if you will the elephant in the courtroom well and he is one of the most famous people in the world now he's the wealthiest man in the world or that status depends so of course people I'm sure aware of that Scripps News investigative correspondent Patrick Terpstra live for us thank you so much for your reporting on this I know you've been focused on this for a while

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