A Houston woman is suing Tesla for more than $1 million, claiming her Cybertruck crashed into a concrete barrier while it was in self-driving mode as her 1-year-old child rode with her.
Plaintiff’s attorney Bob Hilliard said his client, Justine Saint Amour, had little time to respond when the vehicle failed to navigate an overpass exit.
“And suddenly, like that, you know you realize you know this car is going to kill me,” Hilliard said.
Hilliard said Saint Amour realized too late that the Cybertruck was not going to follow the roadway.
“But at the last second she looked at the screen and realized the Tesla truck was not going to go right and it wasn’t going to go left, it was going to go straight over the overpass,” Hilliard said.
According to court records, Saint Amour disengaged Full Self-Driving mode while driving along the Eastex Freeway at the exit for the Eastex Park-and-Ride. Hilliard said the disengagement came too late to prevent the crash.
“Even a very alert driver who allows the truck to drive itself, like it says it can, you know can’t go from passenger to emergency-driver reaction you know in a blink of an eye, and that’s what Tesla expects,” Hilliard said.
Hilliard said the Cybertruck crashed into a concrete barrier, injuring Saint Amour. He said her 1-year-old child was not hurt.
Hilliard also criticized Tesla’s marketing of the system.
“It is a driver-assist Tesla, basically cruise control on steroids. Um but the marketing tells the driver that it is fully self driving,” he said.
Tesla was contacted for comment at the start of the week, but no response had been received as of the latest update. There was no word on when the case will go to court.