[danso]

> ...and did not maintain the attention while doing so

IANAL, but exceeding the speed limit wouldn't be enough for a prosecutor to want to prove felony vehicular manslaughter. Even when DUI is involved, juries can still decide that the driver tragically f-cked up, e.g. underestimated how drunk they were, but not in a "grossly negligent" way. Even though virtually everyone knows that drunk driving is illegal.

But how many potential jury members know or believe that violating the fine print of using Autopilot is illegal or wrong? Or that a Tesla owner should be convicted of a felony because they "obviously" should have known better? I'd assume far fewer in a jury pool have strong knowledge and opinions on Autopilot versus drinking-while-driving.

[phkahler]

Just replace the term "autopilot" with "cruise control" because that's all it really is with a bit of lane keeping added. Now does it seem reasonable for someone to set that to 75mph in a 45mph zone? was it 45 or less?

[danso]

The article says the driver on a freeway, and had set Autopilot 20 minutes prior to the crash. Obviously there would've been a speed zone before the traffic light intersection, but presumably the speed limit was 65+ at the time the driver set Autopilot.

Is it understandable for you to set your traditional cruise control at 75mph and not expect things to change for 20+ minutes? I don't think so — I wouldn't trust CC to keep me on the road for more than 2 minutes without my direct guidance. Is it understandable that you might trust Autopilot to handle the road for 2o minutes, because you were confused or misled by Autopilot's capabilities? That feels like a substantively different question.

[LegitShady]

>Is it understandable that you might trust Autopilot to handle the road for 2o minutes, because you were confused or misled by Autopilot's capabilities? That feels like a substantively different question.

If you program a robot to commit an illegal act and someone dies, is it the robot manufacturer's fault?

[ghaff]

Of course, there's at least some question of what gets presented to a jury. The defense will presumably try to make this at least in part a question of "confusion" about the car's capabilities. However, I'd expect the prosecution to make a case for that all being irrelevant just as it would be for regular cruise control.

[vineyardmike]

> However, I'd expect the prosecution to make a case for that all being irrelevant just as it would be for regular cruise control.

I can imagine this being a major issue in this case. Elon isn’t known for keeping his mouth shut, especially when it comes to bragging about Tesla. I can imagine that his statements and Tesla marketing being compared to the fine print on Autopilot. Or worse, he tweets counter points live.

Especially complex if Tesla gets involved further as part of data discovery.