The Mendoza family is suing Tesla after Giovanni Mendoza Martinez died in a 2023 crash while using the "Autopilot" feature in his used Model S.
The lawsuit, filed in a California Northern District Court, alleged that Tesla's Autopilot feature failed to detect and avoid a fire truck and caused the collision on Interstate 680, the Daily Mail reported.
Giovanni's car was driving on Autopilot at 71 miles per hour for 12 minutes before the crash, the Independent reported.
Attorney Brett Schreiber represents the Mendoza family. He criticized Tesla for rushing what he claims is incomplete technology to the electric vehicle market, saying the crash was "entirely preventable."
The lawsuit said Giovanni believed Tesla and Elon Musk's claims that the vehicle could safely drive itself, calling Tesla's marketing deceptive and its Autopilot system flawed, reported The Independent UK.
"Not only was he aware that the technology itself was called, 'Autopilot,' he saw, heard, and/or read many of Tesla or Musk's deceptive claims on Twitter, Tesla's official blog, or in the news media," the lawsuit said. "Giovanni believed those claims were true" thinking "it was safer than a human driver."
"This is yet another example of Tesla using our public roadways to perform research and development of its autonomous driving technology," Schreiber said in an interview with the Independent. "What's worse is that Tesla knows that many of its earlier model vehicles continue to drive our roadways today with this same defect putting first responders and the public at risk."
Tesla denied responsibility and suggested the accident may have resulted from driver negligence.
The lawsuit highlights Tesla's supposed history of overstating its self-driving capabilities, citing thousands of complaints, recalls and crashes involving Autopilot.
The lawsuit accuses Tesla of neglecting to fix known issues and misleading customers while Musk made claims, such as Autopilot being "probably better" than human drivers, despite the technology's limitations.
Schreiber also argued that Tesla uses public roads for testing, which endangers drivers and pedestrians, without issuing proper recalls for defective systems.
Between 2015 and 2022, Tesla received over 1000 crash reports and 3000 complaints about sudden braking or acceleration, said The Daily Mail.
In October, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration opened a probe against Tesla's "Full Self-Driving" system after the company reported four crashes in low-visibility conditions, reported PBS.
