Tesla Settles Lawsuit Over Fatal Pedestrian Crash Involving Full Self-Driving

Tesla has resolved another lawsuit concerning a death involving one of its driver assistance systems. As first reported by Bloomberg, the lawsuit, which revolves around the death of 71-year-old Johna Story in Arizona, has been settled, but the terms were not disclosed.

Story's family filed the lawsuit in 2023 after the incident where the grandmother stepped out of her car to direct traffic around a separate collision caused by sun glare. She was struck and killed by a Tesla Model Y using Full Self-Driving. Notably, this was the first reported incident of a pedestrian fatality related to Tesla's automated driving technology.

In addition to the lawsuit, the crash led to a federal investigation by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), which examined how Full Self-Driving operates in poor visibility conditions. Unlike most other incidents involving Tesla's driver assistance features, this lawsuit targeted Full Self-Driving, which has since been rebranded to Full Self-Driving (Supervised).

Previously, other legal actions against Tesla mentioned its older Autopilot feature, such as the lawsuit involving a Model X driver who crashed into a median and died while using Autopilot. Tesla has since settled that case as well. However, Tesla now faces a new lawsuit from the family of a woman killed this month in an accident involving a Model 3 driver and the alleged use of "an automated driving assistance system."