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A California choose on Wednesday tentatively ordered Tesla CEO Elon Musk to be interviewed below oath about whether or not he made sure statements relating to the security and capabilities of the carmaker’s Autopilot options.
The ruling got here in a lawsuit filed by the household of Walter Huang in opposition to Tesla in Santa Clara Superior Court docket, over a automobile crash which killed the Apple engineer in 2018.
Huang’s household argues Tesla’s partially automated driving software program failed. The carmaker contends Huang was taking part in a videogame on his cellphone earlier than the crash and disregarded automobile warnings.
Plaintiff attorneys sought to depose Musk relating to recorded statements that tout the capabilities of Autopilot.
In a 2016 assertion cited by plaintiffs, Musk allegedly mentioned: “A Mannequin S and Mannequin X, at this level, can drive autonomously with better security than an individual. Proper now.”
Tesla, nonetheless, opposed the request in court docket filings, arguing that Musk can’t recall particulars about statements.
As well as Musk, “like many public figures, is the topic of many ‘deepfake’ movies and audio recordings that purport to indicate him saying and doing issues he by no means truly mentioned or did,” Tesla mentioned.
However Decide Evette Pennypacker tentatively ordered a restricted, three-hour deposition the place Musk could possibly be requested whether or not he truly made the statements on the recordings, and known as Tesla’s arguments “deeply troubling.”
“Their place is that as a result of Mr. Musk is known and is perhaps extra of a goal for deep fakes, his public statements are immune,” Pennypacker wrote, including that such arguments would enable Musk and different well-known folks “to keep away from taking possession of what they did truly say and do.”
California judges typically concern tentative rulings, that are then finalized after a listening to with few main adjustments.
Tesla and an lawyer for Huang’s household didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
The lawsuit is scheduled to enter trial on July 31, including to rising authorized and regulatory scrutiny over Tesla’s Autopilot system.
A California state court docket jury on Friday discovered Tesla’s Autopilot function didn’t fail in what seemed to be the primary trial associated to a crash involving the partially automated driving software program.
© Thomson Reuters 2023
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