Tesla is being forced to reimburse one driver in Europe due to issues with its Autopilot driver assistance system.
A Munich court ordered Tesla to repay a customer much of the 112,000 euros ($112,885 USD) she had paid for a Model X SUV, due to issues with the vehicle’s Autopilot system, as reported by German publication Der Spiegel (via Reuters).
In a technical report of the vehicle, Autopilot struggled to process certain obstacles, including a narrowing construction site.
Additionally, the system would occasionally activate the brakes when it wasn’t necessary, a phenomenon often referred to as “phantom braking.”
The court ruled that the fault could lead to a “massive hazard” in city centres, ultimately leading to traffic collisions.
Tesla Autopilot Chief Departs, Says ‘Difficult Decision’ to Part Ways https://t.co/EpQ8osOv36
— TeslaNorth.com (@RealTeslaNorth) July 13, 2022
Tesla’s lawyers, however, argued that the Autopilot system wasn’t designed for use in city traffic, though the court noted a driver’s inability to manually toggle the feature on or off in differing settings.
In March, Tesla CEO told Giga Berlin employees that there were a lot more tricky situations in Europe for Autopilot.
Musk said, “It’s quite difficult to do full self-driving in Europe.”
The top-level U.S. regulatory agency opened a probe into Tesla’s phantom braking in February, and the automaker had to formulate a response to the investigation by June 20.
