Tesla has decided to use a bizarre defense in a lawsuit brought by the family of a Tesla owner who died in an accident while using Autopilot a few years ago.
The automaker claimed that CEO Elon Musk shouldn’t be made available to explain some of his statements on self-driving because some of the public comments might have been “deep fakes.”
The lawsuit revolves around the death of Walter Huang, an Apple engineer who died in his Tesla Model X while driving to work in 2018.
As we previously reported, the Model X was driving on Autopilot when it entered the median of a ramp on the highway as if it was a lane and hit a barrier about 150 meters after going into the median.
The impact was quite severe because there was no crash attenuator since it was already destroyed from a previous crash. The driver was rushed to the hospital, but he died of his injuries.
NHTSA investigated the accident and confirmed that the vehicle was using Autopilot at the time of the crash, but it blamed the driver, who was playing a video game on his phone at the time of the accident, according to the phone data, and on the lack of crash attenuator.
Tesla asks drivers always to pay attention and be ready to take control when using Autopilot.
The Huang family decided to sue anyway, and they are trying to use the argument that some of Tesla’s and, more specifically, some of CEO Elon Musk’s comments about Autopilot and self-driving have led Huang to believe he could use Autopilot in the manner that led to the crash.
The lawsuit is set to go to trial in Santa Clara County Superior Court this year, but Tesla has tried to keep Musk and his statements out of the case with a quite bizarre defense.
The automaker is claiming that some of the statements that Musk is believed to have made might have been “deep fakes,” and therefore he shouldn’t be questioned on them.
Deep fakes generally mean synthetic media that have been digitally manipulated to replace one person’s likeness convincingly with that of another, but people also use the term to refer to CGI videos made to make someone say something that they didn’t actually say.
Judge Evette D. Pennypacker didn’t buy the argument. She said in her judgment (via The Telegraph):
Their position is that because Mr Musk is famous and might be more of a target for deep fakes, his public statements are immune. In other words, Mr Musk, and others in his position, can simply say whatever they like in the public domain, then hide behind the potential for their recorded statements being a deep fake to avoid taking ownership of what they did actually say and do.
She has ruled that Musk should be made available for an interview of up to three hours to discuss his statements about Tesla Autopilot and Full Self-Driving.
Electrek’s Take
That’s bizarre. If Tesla thinks some of the statements are deep fakes, it should say exactly which ones and try to prove it. But the capability to create deep fakes certainly doesn’t make anyone immune to scrutiny on their statement.
Also, it’s not like we don’t know for a fact that Musk has made some fairly ambitious statements about Tesla Autopilot and Full Self-Driving.
Is he now going to claim that he never said that Tesla would have 1 million robotaxis on the road by the end of the year three years ago? Was it a deep fake? Was it also a deep fake when he said it again the next year? That’s just ridiculous and worrying that Tesla would try such a defense. I guess that Tesla’s new “hardcore litigation team” at work.
However, in this case, the Huang family is facing an uphill battle because despite Musk’s comments about what he believes Tesla could achieve with self-driving in the future, Tesla has always been clear about how drivers should use Autopilot.
Every time you activate Autopilot, it tells the driver to keep their hands on the steering wheel and be ready to take control at all times. The data points toward the fact that Huang was playing a video game, not paying attention, and had plenty of time to react when the car went into the median and before hitting the barrier. He was clearly not using Autopilot as intended.
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Hyundai is about to launch a new electric SUV in China. With its big debut coming up, Hyundai just dropped a sneak peek, and it looks like it could be the IONIQ 4. Check it out for yourself in the video below.
Is Hyundai teasing the IONIQ 4?
We caught our first glimpse of the new EV model last month after Beijing Hyundai released a few official “spy” photos.
Despite the camouflage, you can see a few design elements, like a light bar across the front, slim LED headlights, and a closed-off grille. At first, it almost looks like a smaller version of the IONIQ 9, Hyundai’s first three-row electric SUV, but with a much sportier, shaped profile.
Beijing Hyundai released a new teaser for the upcoming electric SUV this week. The video shows “a wave of high-end operations” as the vehicle dances across the snow.
The video highlights features like real-time torque control, high-speed cornering, and the SUV’s impressive body control while driving around cones.
Hyundai’s new electric SUV is being called “OE” internally, according to The Korean Car Blog, suggesting it could be an IONIQ model.
All other Hyundai IONIQ EV models were also codenamed with an “E” internally, which is raising speculation that this could be the IONIQ 4.
Like most global OEMs, Hyundai is fighting to compete in an intense Chinese EV market, which is dominated by domestic automakers like BYD.
Hyundai opened its first overseas R&D center last year in China to spearhead its comeback. It will work with local suppliers and tech companies to develop EVs designed for Chinese buyers. The new electric SUV is expected to launch in China later this year, followed by three new energy vehicles, including EVs and EREVs.
Beijing Hyundai will release more information on April 16, with the electric SUV set to “challenge the limit of driving performance.”
What do you think of Hyundai’s new electric SUV? Is this the IONIQ 4? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
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Charge point provider char.gy has secured a £130 million contract to install 6,000 curbside EV chargers for Brighton and Hove City Council (BHCC) – the UK’s largest installation of its kind.
London-based char.gy has also been awarded a 15-year contract to operate and maintain the charging network.
Installing Level 2 chargers curbside, where most drivers in the UK park, will enable more people to take advantage of cheaper charging rates while juicing up their EVs overnight. (charg.gy’s pay as you go night tariff, between midnight and 7 am, is £0.39/kWh, compared to its £0.59/kWh day tariff.)
John Lewis, chief executive of char.gy, said the project is “a huge moment for the UK and its EV ambitions. This partnership alone will empower thousands of residents to confidently make the switch to electric vehicles, knowing they have easy access to chargers.”
Brighton and Hove City Council is among the first to tap into the government’s Local EV Infrastructure (LEVI) Fund, designed to help English local authorities roll out charging solutions for residents without off-street parking. Future of Roads Minister Lilian Greenwood said making EV charging as accessible as possible is “crucial to making the switch to electric a success.”
The UK now has over 75,000 public EV chargers, according to the Department for Transport—and it looks like the country’s on pace to hit its 2030 target. Back in December, the National Audit Office said the rollout is “on track” to meet the DfT’s estimate that at least 300,000 chargers will be needed by the end of the decade.
Read more: Meet the UK’s largest solar + storage EV charging ‘Superhub’
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