The Sunday Read: ‘Elon Musk’s Appetite for Destruction’
The Daily
The Autopilot System in Kevin George Aziz Riyadh's Tesla Was Likely Responsible for the Deaths of Two People
On December 29, 2019, the same day a Tesla in Indiana got into a deadly crash with a parked fire truck, an offduty chauffeur named Kevin George Aziz Riyadh, was driving his grade 2016 Tesla Model S down the Gardena Freeway in suburban Los Angeles./nIt had been a long drive back from a visit to Orange County, and Riyadh had autopilot turned on./nShortly after midnight, the car passed under a giant sign that said, End Freeway signal ahead, in flashing yellow lights./nThe autopilot kept Riyadh's Tesla at a steady speed as it approached the stoplight that marked the end of the Freeway and the beginning of Artisiable of Art./nAccording to a witness, the light was red, but the car drove straight through the intersection, striking a Honda Civic./nRiyadh had only minor injuries, but the two people in the Civic, Hilderto Alquez Arlopes and Maria Guadalupe Nieves, died at the scene./nTheir families said that they were on a first date./nWho was responsible for this accident? State officials have charged Riyadh with manslaughter and planned to prosecute him as if he were the sole actor behind the two deaths./nThe victim's families, meanwhile, have filed civil suits against both Riyadh and Tesla./nDepending on the outcomes of the criminal and civil cases, the autopilot system could be judged, in effect, legally responsible,.
