Hsu broke down in tears outside the courtroom after the jury delivered its verdict. One of Hsu’s attorneys, Donald Slavik, said they are disappointed in the result and appreciate the jury’s service. Tesla attorney Michael Carey declined to comment. Tesla calls its driver-assistant systems Autopilot or Full Self-Driving, but says the features do not make the cars autonomous, and that human drivers should be “prepared to take over at any moment.” The EV maker introduced its Autopilot in 2015, and the first fatal accident in the United States was reported in 2016, but the case never went to trial. Critical time for Tesla The Hsu trial, which has not been reported by other media, unfolded in Los Angeles Superior Court over the last three weeks, and featured testimony from three Tesla engineers. Tesla calls its driver-assistant systems Autopilot or Full Self-Driving, but says the features do not make the cars autonomous. AP It came at a critical time for the company as it braces for a spate of other trials starting this year related to the semi-automated driving system, which Musk has claimed is safer than human drivers. While the trial’s outcome is not legally binding in other cases, it is considered a test case because it would serve as a bellwether to help Tesla and other plaintiffs’ lawyers hone their strategies, experts say. Cassandra Burke Robertson, a professor at the Case Western Reserve University School of Law who has studied self-driving car liability, said early cases “give an indication of how later cases are likely to go.” Tesla is also under investigation by the Justice Department and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration over its claims about self-driving capabilities and the safety of the technology, respectively. Teslar introduced its Autopilot in 2015, and the first fatal accident in the US was reported in 2016, but the case never went to trial. REUTERS The main question in Autopilot cases was who is responsible for an accident while a car was in driver-assistant Autopilot mode — a human driver, the machine, or both? Hsu’s lawsuit alleged that the Tesla vehicle hit the curb so suddenly that she had no time to avoid it even though she had her hands on the steering wheel and was alert. Reuters was first to report that a 2016 video used by Tesla to promote its self-driving technology was actually staged, to show capabilities — such as stopping at a red light and accelerating at a green light — that the system did not have, according to testimony by a senior engineer. The details about the video were from a deposition of a Tesla executive in another case. That executive, Ashok Elluswamy, director of Autopilot software at Tesla, testified during the Hsu trial last week about the videotape. Filed under