Judge finds evidence that Tesla, Musk knew about Autopilot defect

stopthatgirl7@kbin.social to Technology@lemmy.world – 589 points –
Judge finds evidence that Tesla, Musk knew about Autopilot defect
reuters.com

A Florida judge found "reasonable evidence" that Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk and other managers knew the automaker's vehicles had a defective Autopilot system but still allowed the cars to be driven unsafely, according to a ruling.

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It's not that people die crashing them, or even that a manufacturing/software defect causes the deaths.

It's that Tesla knew that there was a software error that would almost certainly cause somebody to die, and intentionally chose not to address the issues for financial reasons. That's textbook depraved indifference.

Reminds me of that cost of a recall calculation scene from Fight Club.

And that's exactly why the depraved indifference rule exists.

Are there any famous examples of that being used?

Schlitterbahn waterpark is a fairly recent high-profile example.

The designers of the water coaster and co-owner of the park were charged with murder because they knew the ride was lethally dangerous and kept it running.

In fact, they'd paid off people hurt in other near-death accidents to keep quiet.

Thanks for the example! I'll definitely check that out.