On Friday, Der Spiegel reported on a Munich court’s decision to order Tesla to reimburse a customer for most of the EUR 112,000 (roughly Rs. 90,00,000) she paid for a Model X SUV due to autopilot issues.
There was a problem with the vehicle’s ability to recognize narrowing areas of a construction site, according to a technical report.
The court found that this could pose a “massive hazard” in urban areas and result in collisions.
Courts have ruled that it is impossible for drivers to switch Autopilot on and off manually in different driving situations because doing so would distract them from the task of driving, according to Der Spiegel.
Der Spiegel was unable to get a response from Tesla, and the company declined to comment. No one from the court could be reached for comment right away.
Tesla’s Autopilot function is under investigation by US safety regulators following reports of 16 crashes involving Tesla vehicles in Autopilot that had struck stationary first-responder and road maintenance vehicles, seven of which resulted in injuries and one in death.
Tesla claims that Autopilot allows vehicles to brake and steer automatically within their lanes, but it does not allow them to drive themselves.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk said in March that, pending regulatory approval, the company plans to test a version of its new “Full Self-Driving” software in Europe later this year.
According to him at the time, European roads vary greatly by country, making it difficult to do full self-driving in Europe. He told workers at the Berlin factory, “There is a lot of work to be done.”
