Why Tesla doesn’t want you to hear this testimony in court

Tesla has to answer in court for the death of a Model 3 driver. The brand tried to keep the statement of its own technician secret.

The lawsuit against Tesla was filed by the family of 37-year-old Micah Lee. The American died in 2019 when his Model 3 suddenly left the highway.

Tesla Model 3 drove on autopilot

The electric car was reportedly running on Autopilot, Tesla’s semi-autonomous driving assistant. Lee was killed instantly when his Model 3 crashed into a palm tree at 65 miles per hour and burst into flames.

Relatives went to court. Tesla has known for years that the autopilot and other systems were not working properly, the indictment says. Last week, a technician from the brand had to testify.

After all, the statement is not secret

Tesla asked the judge to keep the man’s statement secret. The official reason for this is to protect trade secrets. The judge rejected the request.

We fully understand that the manufacturer didn’t want its own employee’s story to become public because he said some eye-catching things that – admittedly – we already knew.

Fully autonomous driving, not autonomous

Micah Lee had a Model 3 with Autopilot and full self-driving beta. Both are Level 2 systems that do not function autonomously and therefore cannot drive independently.

The Lee family’s lawyer suspects that Tesla chose the name “Full Self-Driving” to mislead people. So that they think that the system can do more than it actually can.

Cars with hidden defects

Eloy Rubio Blanco, the technician, denied this. “Do I believe our vehicles are autonomous? NO.” He also confirmed that 2019 cars like Lee’s could have “hidden defects.”

Autopilot and FSD are limited in their capabilities, he said. “You can ‘see’ objects that aren’t there and then brake. Even the emergency braking assistant is not always enough to avoid a collision.”