Tesla has settled another lawsuit involving its Autopilot driver-assist system, which is alleged to have caused a crash. This time, a 2020 Model Y on Autopilot crashed into a stationary police vehicle in Texas.

This is Tesla’s fourth known settlement in lawsuits involving Autopilot crashes since losing its first trial earlier this year.

The case, James Tran vs. Tesla, Inc., was filed in Harris County, Texas, after an incident on November 15, 2020.

According to the lawsuit, James Tran was traveling on the I-10 freeway in his 2020 Model Y with the Autopilot feature engaged. Up ahead on the same road, three Harris County Constable (police) vehicles were blocking several lanes of traffic for a prior accident.

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Tran’s Model Y, while operating on Autopilot, collided with one of the stationary constables’ vehicles.

In his petition, Tran alleged that Tesla’s “Autopilot… system safety features failed to detect” the emergency vehicles or “function in any way to avoid or warn of the hazard”. His lawyers claimed the system had a “failure to warn” about its known “inability to detect emergency cars with flashing lights” and sought over $1 million in damages.

As it almost always does, Tesla’s defense centered on blaming the driver. In a March 2024 “No-Evidence” motion, Tesla’s lawyers alleged that Tran had been “gambling and drinking at a casino” before the 2:40 a.m. crash and “dozed off” behind the wheel.

From the beginning of the case, Tesla’s legal strategy was to argue that Tran was the “sole cause” of his injuries. By 2024, they argued he had “no evidence” and, crucially, “no experts” to prove Autopilot was at fault.

Tesla sought dismissal, but the judge allowed it to proceed, and the case was set for trial on November 11.

Despite this aggressive defense, Tesla didn’t let a jury decide the case.

Days before the trial was set to start, Tesla’s lawyers quietly filed a “Notice of Settlement” on November 6, 2025. The document simply states that “the parties in the above-captioned case have reached a settlement”. The terms, as usual, are not disclosed in the filing.

Shortly after Tran’s crash, Tesla was investigated by NHTSA regarding Autopilot-equipped vehicles crashing into emergency vehicles. The federal agency found 11 incidents that resulted in 17 injuries and one death.

NHTSA eventually concluded that Tesla’s driver monitoring system for Autopilot was “inadequate” and Tesla had to issue a recall.

However, NHTSA launched another investigation into the recall fix itself, and other similar crashes have occurred since, including one into a police car last month.

The floodgates are open

As we reported, the floodgates of lawsuits related to Tesla Autopilot/FSD crashes are open after Tesla lost its first case that went to trial earlier this year.

For the first time, a case went to trial before a jury, and they assigned a third of the blame for the crash to Tesla for the role Autopilot played. The rest of the blame was put on the driver, who had already settled with the victims and their families before the Tesla trial began.

The jury awarded the plaintiffs $243 million. The automaker has made clear its intentions to appeal the verdict.

Before the trial, the plaintiffs offered Tesla a $60 million settlement, but the company refused.

The trial was costly for Tesla, not only because of the more than $240 million award, but also because of the information that came out during the trial, which didn’t make Tesla look good.

There are dozens of other cases currently going through the court process, and now they can take advantage of what was learned through the trial.

To avoid further discovery, Tesla appears to be increasingly willing to settle these cases.

With the Tran case, it now marks at least Tesla’s fourth known settlement of lawsuits involving Autopilot/FSD crashes since losing the trial in August.

Electrek’s Take

As I have been highlighting over the last few months, this is just the beginning. We are just now starting to see cases that come from crashes that happened in 2018-2019-2020 go to trial.

It’s a long process, but we know that the number of crashes involving Autopilot and FSD significantly ramped up in 2021-2025 due to higher volumes and the launch of FSD.

All these accidents, many of them unfortunately fatal, are going to go through the legal process, and Tesla will have to settle for billions of dollars when everything is said and done.

Simply blaming the driver for abusing Tesla’s ADAS system is not working anymore. Tesla is consistently taking at least part of the blame for misleading drivers into believing its ADAS systems are more than they are or for their monitoring system’s lack.

In fact, there’s another similar lawsuit in the same county as the Tran lawsuit, which is about to go to trial unless Tesla settles it soon. It involves a drunk driver on Autopilot crashing into 5 police officers, injuring them in the process. The officers are suing Tesla with a similar approach to that of Tran in this case.

Shopping for your next car is almost too easy nowadays. You can now skip the dealership and buy certified pre-owned Ford vehicles, including EVs, directly on Amazon.

How to buy certified pre-owned Ford EVs on Amazon

Ford is partnering with Amazon to sell certified pre-owned vehicles on its platform. You can search through available inventory from local dealers, complete most of the paperwork online, and then schedule a time to pick up your new vehicle.

Every vehicle is backed by Ford’s Blue Advantage warranty, which includes a thorough multi-point inspection and roadside assistance.

Ford said the new collaboration offers the trust of its certified pre-owned vehicle program with the convenience of shopping on Amazon.

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Don’t like the new car? All vehicles are backed by a 14-day/1,000-mile money-back guarantee, whichever comes first.

Ford offers three tiers: Gold, Blue, and EV-certified. Gold includes Ford vehicles up to six years old with less than 80,000 miles. They undergo a 172-point inspection and include a 12-month/12,000-mile comprehensive limited warranty.

Blue-certified vehicles include Ford and other brands, up to 10 years old with less than 150,000 miles. These vehicles undergo a 139-point inspection and come with a 90-day/4,000 mile limited warranty.

Ford’s EV-certified pre-owned vehicles are up to 6 years old and have less than 80,000 miles. Electric vehicles undergo a 127-point inspection and are covered by the same 12-month/12,000-mile comprehensive limited warranty as Gold-certified vehicles.

The program allows you to search vehicles from a participating Ford dealer within a 75-mile radius, view prices, and secure financing, all on Amazon’s trusted platform.

The Amazon Auto program is rolling out in Los Angeles, Seattle, and Dallas, and will continue expanding to new markets.

Initial dealer sign-ups have been positive, Ford said. About 160 to 180 dealers have expressed interest, and around 20 have already launched or plan to launch soon.

Ford joins Hyundai, which began selling certified pre-owned vehicles on Amazon Auto in August. Amazon announced it would begin selling cars on its platform two years ago, starting with Hyundai.

Looking to see what’s available in your area? You can visit Amazon.com/Amazon-Autos to search for Hyundai and Ford vehicles near you.

Amazon Auto isn’t offered in your area? That’s okay. We can still help you find your next vehicle. You can use our links below to find Hyundai and Ford EVs at a dealership near you.

Together with its with its partners at Highland Electric, Blue Bird, and local Exelon utility ComEd, the West Aurora school district kicked off this week by deploying 27 fully electric school buses — the largest such deployment in the state. Here’s how they made it happen.

The new Blue Bird electric school buses will be rolling up to 77 kids each out to West Aurora schools this morning, promising those students clean, quiet operation and more than 130 miles of all-electric range courtesy of their 194 kWh lithium-ion NMC battery packs. Those batteries will be sending electrons to a Cummins Accelera PowerDrive 7000 drive system and TM4 SUMO electric motor — a smooth and capable unit putting out 250 kW (~350 hp) of power and some 950 Nm (700 lb-ft) of torque.

These buses are more than zippy enough, in other words, to get kids safely and quickly up to speed (even if they’re not exactly CoolBus-level quick).

The new electric school bus fleet reflects West Aurora’s ongoing leadership in improving operational efficiency and environmental performance across its schools, which have invested heavily in solar energy, energy efficient building upgrades, and waste energy reduction efforts in recent years.

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“West Aurora is proud to strengthen our commitment to our schools and community by adding electric buses to our sustainability efforts,” explains Dr. Angie Smith, SD129 Associate Superintendent of Operations. “We continue to work to find ways to provide a healthier environment for our students and families, while also achieving savings for our taxpayers. We hope to be able to demonstrate to other districts that electrification of even a portion of your fleet can make a difference that we can all benefit from.”

Funding for the new school bus fleet and its associated charging infrastructure includes nearly $1 million from local Exelon utility ComEd, as well as nearly $5 million in additional stacked incentive funds from the Illinois and Federal EPAs’ Clean School Bus Programs.

Those funds helped cover the cost of both the Blue Bird electric school buses and the 14 60 kW Zerova DC fast chargers that help power the fleet, providing flexible charging capacity to meet route demands and support future fleet growth.

“Reducing emissions from vehicles, especially heavy-duty vehicles like school buses, is one of the most effective steps we can take to improve air quality and public health in Illinois,” says Brian Urbaszewski, Director of Environmental Health Programs at Respiratory Health Association. “ComEd’s continued support of transportation electrification funding is allowing businesses, communities and school districts like West Aurora to achieve their electrification goals and help eliminate pollution and create cleaner air for all our communities.”

Electrek’s Take

Illinois policymakers are doing a fantastic job helping to accelerate EV adoption, promote grid stability, and clean up the state’s air, removing the heaviest surface level polluters and making real efforts to protect the health and safety of Illinois’ children.

“These kids and drivers will no longer breathe in tailpipe emissions. These buses will not release tailpipe emissions throughout the community. And the partnership between the school district, Highland Electric Fleets and ComEd ensures these buses will charge at times that are most beneficial to the local grid,” said Tim Farquer, founder and administrative lead of Bus2Grid. “In addition, when fully charged, these new buses hold more than 4 megawatts of stored energy. That’s the equivalent of over 300 Tesla Powerwalls. That makes us equally excited to see this partnership unlock the potential for these school buses to export energy and reduce constraints on the local grid. This project reflects everything Bus2Grid stands for, and we couldn’t be more happy for our friends at West Aurora, Highland Electric Fleets and ComEd for working together to pull this off. I can’t wait to see more and more of these projects deployed around the state.”

Couldn’t agree more, Tim. Here’s hoping there’s a lot more of these stories to come.

SOURCES | IMAGES: West Aurora SD129, ComEd, via BusinessWire.

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