Naibel Benavides and her boyfriend Dillon Angulo. Pic: NBC Why you can trust Sky News A jury has ruled that Tesla is partly to blame for the death of a young woman who was hit by an electric car on Autopilot. Naibel Benavides was stargazing at the time of the collision, which sent her flying 22m (75ft) through the air in Florida. Her boyfriend was seriously injured in the 2019 incident, while her body was discovered in a wooded area. Image: Lawyers for the plaintiffs also alleged that Tesla either hid or lost key evidence, including data and video recorded seconds before the collision. They showed the court that the company had the evidence all along, despite repeated denials, after hiring a forensic data expert who dug it up. After being shown the evidence, Tesla said it made a mistake and honestly hadn't thought it was there. Image: Elon Musk hopes to convince people that his cars are safe to drive on their own. Pic: Reuters Past cases against Tesla were dismissed or settled, so the verdict in this case could encourage more legal action. Miguel Custodio, a car crash lawyer not involved in this trial, added: "This will open the floodgates. It will embolden a lot of people to come to court." The verdict comes as Mr Musk plans to roll out a driverless taxi service, hoping to convince people his vehicles are safe enough to drive on their own. Improvements to the company's driver assistance and partial self-driving features have been made in recent years - but in 2023, 2.3 million Tesla vehicles were recalled amid fears Autopilot was failing to sufficiently alert drivers not paying attention to the road. Related Topics