A California judge has instructed Tesla CEO Elon Musk to testify under oath concerning statements he allegedly made about the safety and capabilities of the company’s Autopilot features, reports Reuters.
The decision is part of a lawsuit filed by the family of Walter Huang, an Apple engineer who died in a 2018 car crash. Tesla’s lawyers have argued that Musk cannot recall the specific statements in question and that he is frequently the subject of convincing “deepfake” videos.
Huang’s family claims that Tesla’s partially automated driving software failed, while the carmaker maintains that Huang was playing a video game on his phone and ignored vehicle warnings prior to the accident. The plaintiff’s attorneys hope to question Musk about recorded statements promoting the Autopilot system’s capabilities.
Judge Evette Pennypacker has tentatively ordered a three-hour deposition in which Musk can be questioned about whether he made the statements in question. The judge called Tesla’s arguments “deeply troubling” and expressed concerns about granting immunity to public figures based on the potential for deep fake content.
The plaintiffs also allege that Musk oversaw a 2016 promotional video in which the phrase “The car is driving itself” was used, despite some features not being available at the time. Neither Musk nor Tesla has responded to requests for comment.
The trial, which is set to begin on July 31, will add to the growing legal and regulatory scrutiny surrounding Tesla’s Autopilot system. In a separate case, a California state court jury recently found that the Autopilot feature did not fail in relation to a crash involving the partially automated driving software.
