Associated Incidents
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (CBS12) — Tesla's autopilot feature is at the center of a lawsuit that's going to trial in Palm Beach County this week.
The lawsuit stems from a fatal crash just after 6 a.m. on State Road 7 in Delray Beach on March 1, 2019. The crash killed 50-year-old Jeremy Banner of Lake Worth Beach. He left behind a wife and three grown children.
According to the NTSB, Banner's 2018 Tesla Model 3 was going southbound in the far right lane on SR 7 when a "2019 International truck-tractor in combination with a semi-trailer was traveling eastbound in a private driveway," which intersected with the west side of the highway. Authorities said the truck and trailer tried to cross the southbound lanes of SR 7 and turn left into the northbound lanes.
"The combination vehicle entered the highway without stopping, slowed down for an approaching northbound vehicle" when the southbound Tesla crashed into it. "The Tesla under-rode the semi-trailer, shearing off its roof and continued south for approximately 1600 feet before coming to a stop in the median," NTSB investigators wrote.
Banner was killed. The 45-year-old truck driver, Richard Wood, was not hurt.
The posted speed limit in that area was 55 miles-per-hour, the NTSB wrote in the report. The weather conditions at the time of the crash were clear and dry. The sun had not yet risen, and there was no roadway lighting.
NTSB data showed the Tesla going about 68.4 miles-per-hour just before the collision. The truck was traveling approximately 11 mph as it crossed the road.
Photos from the NTSB investigation showed the damage to the Tesla and truck.
Wood described the moment he pulled out onto the highway in an interview with NTSB investigators on March 5, just four days after the fatal crash.
He just left Pero Farms LLC with a FirstFleet trailer, hitting the road for an 8-o-clock delivery. He told investigators he arrived early to get in and out before the traffic hit, and "do it as safe as possible."
"I was proceeding at the guard shack. The gate came up. I pulled up at the stop sign and I looked at the traffic coming south. And it really looked like I had plenty of time to go across, so I proceeded out in the intersection. Once I proceeded out in the intersection, I started looking at the northbound traffic because I was going to take the left-hand lane and proceed on going north. And but -- I mean, it's a very busy intersection. But -- and I've done it a dozen times. And I clearly thought I had plenty of time. I mean, it was dark and the cars looked like they was back further than what they was."
"It's something I'm going to have to live with," Wood said. He broke down before continuing.
"I was -- my tractor was already in the median and I was watching the northbound traffic," Wood recalled. "And I was about to pull out of the intersection into the northbound lane, and I felt a push against my trailer."
Wood said he pulled forward an additional 10 feet and got out of his truck. He told investigators he saw debris in the road, a scuff mark down the side of his trailer, a car pulled over to the side of the road, and a man in a white minivan, also nearby.
"Did that car just hit me?" asked Wood. The man in the white minivan responded, "Yes, and they're leaving."
Wood, according to the NTSB report, believed he was involved in a hit-and-run.
The truck driver got back into the truck and moved it another 10 to 15 feet to get it out of the road.
"Because I, I mean, I try to make sure I do everything as safe as possible," said Wood. "I don't even like getting out of the truck on the side of the interstate."
Wood got out of his truck again and looked at the trailer. He told his safety team by phone that a windshield appeared to be stuck on the side of his trailer.
A driver in a pickup truck then pulls up to Wood.
Transcripts of the NTSB interview show the conversation that followed.
"Are you the guy that drives this tractor?" asked the man in the pickup truck.
"Yeah," Wood said.
"That dude didn't make it," said the man in the pickup truck.
"What are you talking about?" asked Wood.
"That guy, it sheared the whole roof off his car. He didn't make it," said the man in the pickup truck. Wood said it went downhill after that.
Banner's family filed a lawsuit for wrongful death and negligence against Tesla, the truck driver, and the trucking company FirstFleet, Inc.
In the lawsuit, the family argued, "Tesla's customers including decedent, Jeremy Banner, believed the Tesla Model 3's technology was such that the autopilot features included design and programs, software, hardware, and systems that would eliminate the risk of harm or injury to the vehicle operator caused by other vehicles or obstacles while driving on roadways and would prevent the vehicle from colliding with other obstacles/objects while in autopilot mode."
The family claimed the Tesla Model 3 "lacked a properly designed system for crash avoidance," and that the company "specifically knew that its product was defective and would not properly and safely avoid impacting other vehicles and obstacles in its path."
In the lawsuit, the family listed a slew of crashes involving Tesla, including one in 2018 in Fort Lauderdale.
“There’s no question at all that it was defective," said family attorney Trey Lytal, in an interview with CBS12 in 2019. "It did not work properly. In fact, it didn’t work at all," Lytal added.
In a written statement in 2019, Tesla told CBS12 News it’s safe “when used properly by an attentive driver who is prepared to take control at all times.”
Tesla said Banner took his hands off the wheel shortly before the crash. The family’s attorney said we may never know for sure if that’s correct.
Attorney Mike Pike of Pike & Lustig is not on the case, but as a personal injury attorney, he offered an outside opinion on what the case means to Florida Tesla owners.
"I believe that there are some unreasonable expectations that purchasers of Tesla's put on the vehicle itself," said Pike. "If you say something is autopilot, there may be a good faith belief on behalf of some human beings that purchase these vehicles that it is truly autopilot. But it in fact is not."
Lawyers for Banner's family filed a motion to get Tesla founder and CEO Elon Musk to testify in the case. The judge denied the motion in March.