A jury will decide whether Tesla is partly to blame for the death of a young woman who was hit by an electric car on Autopilot.
Naibel Benavides was stargazing at the time of the collision, which sent her flying 22m (75ft) through the air in Florida.
Her boyfriend was seriously injured in the incident, while her body was discovered in a wooded area in April 2019.
George McGee, the Tesla’s driver, is not a plaintiff – and reached a separate settlement with the victims’ families.
Lawyers argue that the car’s driver assistance feature should have warned the driver and braked before the collision.
It is alleged the Model S sedan blew through red flights and a stop sign at nearly 70mph.
The Tesla Model S pictured after the crash. Pic: NBC/Florida Highway Patrol
But Tesla argues that the driver is solely to blame because he had reached down to pick up a dropped mobile phone at the time.
In a statement, the company said: “The evidence clearly shows that this crash had nothing to do with Tesla’s Autopilot technology.
“Instead, like so many unfortunate accidents since cell phones were invented, this was caused by a distracted driver.”
Past cases against Tesla have been dismissed or settled, making this jury trial rare.
Improvements to the company’s driver assistance and partial self-driving features have been made in recent years – but in 2023, 2.3 million Tesla vehicles were recalled amid fears Autopilot was failing to sufficiently alert drivers not paying attention to the road.
According to Sky’s US partner network NBC News, Elon Musk was not in court as jury selection took place on Monday.
Three potential jurors said they would struggle to be fair and impartial to Tesla because of the company’s “ethics and ownership”.
Musk wasn’t in court for jury selection. Reuters file pic
After the jury was selected, a lawyer representing the victims said: “Evidence will show for years before and after this crime, Tesla ignored warnings.”
They added: “This is a case about shared responsibility. Tesla will take no responsibility for the failures of their Autopilot system. Evidence will show that every actor needs a stage and Tesla set the stage for the preventable actions that bring us here.”
The jury was also told that evidence will be introduced where Musk publicly declared that Tesla vehicles were “safer than a human”.
