Palm Beach County Circuit Court Judge Reid Scott found “reasonable evidence” that Tesla and its CEO Elon Musk were well aware its cars suffered from a defective autopilot system, Reuters reported. “It would be reasonable to conclude that the Defendant Tesla through its CEO and engineers was acutely aware of the problem with the ‘Autopilot’ failing to detect cross traffic,” he wrote in his ruling. Scott allowed for a lawsuit over a deadly 2019 crash involving a Tesla to proceed to trial. The judge ruled that Tesla “engaged in a marketing strategy that painted the products as autonomous,” and that statements by Musk “had a significant effect on the belief about the capabilities of the products.”
