News on the morning of November 4, Beijing time, an accident involving Tesla Model 3 in 2019 resulted in the death of the owner, Jeremy Banner.The first court hearing for this accident is expected to be held in January 2022. The core question is whether Tesla’s Autopilot driver assistance system is responsible for the accident.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk and NHTSA consultant Mary Cummings are likely to testify in court.
Cummings was recently appointed as an NHTSA consultant, and her appointment has also been closely watched by Tesla fans and car owners. Supporters of Tesla pointed out that Cummings has been publicly criticizing Musk and Tesla as a whole. And Musk himself responded on Twitter, saying that past resumes show that Cummings has always been biased against Tesla.
Although the two’s previous remarks will affect the jury’s judgment on this case, the current outside world’s personal views on Musk and Cummings are not important. The important point is that they may have to testify on Autopilot in this case.
In 2019, Banner drove his Model 3 into a semi-trailer truck in Florida and died. Banner’s lawyer has included Musk in the list of witnesses for the trial. In addition, Banner’s family also hired Cummings to testify.
At present, Tesla and Musk’s lawyers can still try to remove Musk from the list of witnesses. It is reported that the lawyers have persuaded a judge in the case to “reject the request of the Banner family for Musk to testify during the pretrial evidence collection process.”
Tesla and its lawyers have not yet responded to this case.