Tesla Settles Fatal Autopilot Crash Lawsuit Hours Before Trial Set To Start

Good morning! It’s Tuesday, April 9, 2024, and that is The Morning Shift, your day by day roundup of the highest automotive headlines from world wide, in a single place. Here are the essential stories it’s worthwhile to know.

1st Gear: Tesla Settle Autopilot Suit On Eve Of Trial

Tesla reached a settlement with the family of a killed Apple engineer on the evening before its highest-profile Autopilot crash trial was set to happen. Terms of the settlement weren’t disclosed in court filings made in state court in San Jose, California on April 8. From Bloomberg:

The case centered on Walter Huang, a 38-year-old Apple Inc. engineer who was killed on the approach to work in 2018 when his Model X veered off the highway and slammed right into a roadside barrier at about 71 miles (114 kilometers) per hour. The National Transportation Safety Board’s investigation found that Huang probably was distracted by a video game app on his iPhone, while also pointing to “limitations” with the Autopilot system.

The electric-vehicle maker prevailed in two previous trials in California after juries found the accidents — one fatal and one not — were as a result of driver error quite than the corporate’s technology. Each of the trials, and more which can be scheduled in coming months in California and Florida, clash with Musk’s mantra that Teslas are the safest cars ever made.

“This is an important data point,” said Bryant Walker Smith, a University of South Carolina law professor and automated-driving expert. “It doesn’t guarantee future outcomes but it does tell the story of a company that is not publicly invincible.”

He said it’s common for cases to be resolved on the eve of trial, but it surely is surprising that Tesla settled this one.

“At this point everybody already had their script — it’s just kind of doing the math,” he said. “I suspect each side looked at their chances and Tesla decided that publicly settling was preferable to possibly losing in court.”

The trial would have included testimony from each current and former Tesla engineers.

The Austin, Texas-based automaker is facing increased regulatory scrutiny over each its Autopilot and Full Self-Driving driver assist programs. At the tail end of last yr, Tesla recalled and performed over-the-air updates on over two million vehicles after the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said Autopilot didn’t do enough to stop people from misusing it.

Tesla’s website describes Autopilot as “an advanced driver-assistance system that enhances safety and convenience behind the wheel.” The company says that Autopilot enables its vehicles to steer, speed up and brake mechanically, but that the system’s features require “active driver supervision and do not make the vehicle autonomous.”

Musk, Tesla’s chief executive officer, has at all times taken an aggressive approach to litigation. In May 2022, he announced that Tesla was constructing a “hardcore litigation department” that may initiate and execute lawsuits. The Austin-based company has a protracted history of going to great lengths to defend itself in court.

Beyond their claims against Tesla, the Huangs also alleged that California’s transportation department was partly in charge for failing to repair the barrier that had recently sustained damage from one other crash. Had it been repaired, they said, it might need absorbed the impact of the Model X collision and saved Walter Huang’s life.

In 2022, Musk posted on Twitter, saying Tesla would never “surrender/settle an unjust case against us.” It seems that his tune has modified only a bit with this latest settlement.

2nd Gear: Vehicle Imports Pile Up At European Ports

Imported vehicles are seriously piling up at European ports, turning them into “car parks.” Automakers are distributors are combating a slowdown in automotive sales in addition to logistical bottlenecks that make it hard to alleviate the buildup of latest, unsold vehicles. From the Financial Times:

Port and automotive industry executives have pointed to a pile-up of Chinese electric cars as one in all the leading causes of the issue, with some firms booking shipping delivery slots without ordering onward transportation. In other instances, carmakers usually are struggling to order trucks due to the lack of drivers and equipment to maneuver the vehicles on.

“Car distributors are increasingly using the port’s car parks as a depot. Instead of stocking the cars at the dealers, they are collected at the car terminal,” said the Port of Antwerp-Bruges, whose port at Zeebrugge is Europe’s busiest port for automotive imports. “All major car ports” were combating congestion, the port added, without specifying the origin of the vehicles.

Some automotive industry executives said Chinese carmakers weren’t selling their vehicles in Europe as fast as they expected, which was a serious contributor to the glut on the region’s ports.

“Chinese EV makers are using ports like car parks,” said one automotive supply chain manager.

Some Chinese brand EVs had been sitting in European ports for as much as 18 months, while some ports had asked importers to supply proof of onward transport, in line with industry executives. One automotive logistics expert said lots of the unloaded vehicles were simply staying within the ports until they were sold to distributors or end users.

“It’s chaos,” said one other one that had been briefed on the situation.

Cui Dongshu, the secretary-general of the China Passenger Car Association, told FT that inland shipping into European markets is proving difficult for Chinese EV makers.

Emphasising that brands needed to enhance their “after sale” services, he added: “[We need to] change the guerrilla warlike car exports, which will throw ourselves into an unfavourable situation.”

BLG Logistics, the corporate that operates the car-handling terminal on the German port of Bremerhaven, Europe’s second-busiest port for vehicles, said it had experienced longer dwell times at its facilities after Germany’s federal government stopped subsidising purchases of EVs in December last yr.

The clogging up of automotive terminals comes as lots of China’s carmakers, corresponding to BYD, Great Wall, Chery and SAIC, are planning an export push to Europe, each to maintain their factories in China running and to capitalise on the region’s appetite for electric cars.

Emphasising that brands needed to enhance their “after sale” services, he added: “[We need to] change the guerrilla warlike car exports, which will throw ourselves into an unfavourable situation.”

BLG Logistics, the corporate that operates the car-handling terminal on the German port of Bremerhaven, Europe’s second-busiest port for vehicles, said it had experienced longer dwell times at its facilities after Germany’s federal government stopped subsidising purchases of EVs in December last yr.

The clogging up of automotive terminals comes as lots of China’s carmakers, corresponding to BYD, Great Wall, Chery and SAIC, are planning an export push to Europe, each to maintain their factories in China running and to capitalise on the region’s appetite for electric cars.

Many Chinese automakers are reportedly constructing teams in Europe from scratch and coping with real-world logistical challenges. They’ve also struggled to seek out haulage firms to prioritize their vehicles since they’re newcomers to the market. One person told the outlet that a “lack of trucks” is a “very common problem.”

third Gear: A New Small Acura Crossover Is Coming

Acura unveiled the name of its recent subcompact crossover: the ADX. It’s set to launch later this yr, and it’ll be the fourth crossover within the Japanese automaker’s lineup, slotting right below the compact RDX.

This is outwardly a protracted time coming for Acura and its dealers. From Automotive News:

Brian Benstock, chairman of the Acura National Dealer Advisory Board, told Automotive News that dealers have been hoping for a smaller crossover.

“It’s about time,” Benstock said. “It’s a great segment, and we think it’s a growing segment. It’ll really add to our ability to add significant volume to the brand.”

This yr, American Honda said it could add an entry-level, gasoline-powered crossover to Acura’s U.S. lineup in 2024 but didn’t provide details aside from size.

Benstock said Acura didn’t indicate whether it had plans to evolve the ADX into an electrical vehicle.

“They are keeping their cards close to their chest when it comes to that, but everything’s going to turn into an EV eventually. And we’re looking forward to that,” he said.

In more Acura news, the automaker reportedly hinted that an electrical version of its three-row midsize MDX crossover might be coming down the road, but it surely didn’t say when.

Listen, so long as these cars aren’t just General Motors products with an Acura badge glued onto the steering wheel, I’ll be wonderful with them.

4th Gear: GM’s Cruise Robotaxis Returns To Phoenix

General Motor’s much beleagerd Cruise robotaxi business is on the brink of resume testing with safety drivers in Phoenix, Arizona. It’s a giant step within the automaker’s attempts to resume service after its fleet was grounded in 2023. From Bloomberg:

The company is about to announce and start the testing as early as Tuesday, in line with two individuals with knowledge of the matter. In recent months, Cruise has been in talks with officials in 20 metropolitan areas where it previously ran cars or had began mapping in preparation to run them. Phoenix is a natural place to begin as Cruise already has vehicles in the world and city officials were open to the thought of its return, said one in all the people, who asked to not be named because the plan isn’t public.

Cruise spokesman Pat Morrissey said in an email that the corporate “had not set a timeline for deployment. We are in the process of meeting with officials in select markets to gather information, share updates and rebuild trust.”

Getting Cruise back on the road is very important for GM Chief Executive Officer Mary Barra, who has pledged to take the carmaker to leadership in electric vehicles and self-driving technology during her tenure. The robotaxi business was imagined to be a key a part of her goal to double revenue to $280 billion by 2030. With Cruise’s problems and a slowdown in EV sales growth, that concentrate on looks tougher to succeed in.

The robotaxi company has been working to earn the general public’s confidence after one in all its cars struck and dragged a pedestrian in San Francisco in October. Following the incident, California regulators alleged that Cruise initially withheld key footage and details of the incident, which ultimately resulted within the suspension of Cruise’s license in California.

After that, Cruise suspended all operations nationwide, took the resignation of founder and former CEO Kyle Vogt, dismissed nine top executives and laid off 1 / 4 of its workforce. The company later hired a brand new chief safety officer.

When the October incident happened, Cruise was already charging fairs in San Francisco, Austin and Phoenix. The company was also gathering data in preparation to eventually launch across the U.S. It planned to possibly enter Atlanta, Seattle, Miami and Raleigh.

This shall be step one in a protracted road to recovery for Cruise. Let’s just hope nobody else gets hurt in the search to interchange taxi drivers.