Tesla is settling with the family of the Apple engineer who died in an Autopilot crash


This week, Tesla was scheduled to appear in court to defend its Autopilot system against a claim of wrongful death — but it looks like the company will pay the family of Apple engineer Wei “Walter” Huang instead.
Court documents show that Tesla is trying to seal the amount of a potential settlement payment to the Huang family. While it’s not clear how much the company might be offering or what other terms the settlement includes, lawyers for Tesla state that both parties have already agreed to the settlement and want it to be confidential.
You can read that document below; The Washington Post and Bloomberg reported the news earlier. Lawyers for the Huang family didn’t immediately respond to our email.
The settlement has not yet been approved by a judge. Court documents suggest that there’ll be a follow-up hearing this Thursday, April 11th to discuss the settlement further — after the California Department of Transportation, which is also a defendant in the case, gets a chance to object to the settlement.
Huang’s Tesla Model X was confirmed to be using Autopilot when it smashed into a safety barrier in Mountain View, California in March 2018. He died following the crash. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) found that both Autopilot and distracted driving were factors leading to the crash.
Tesla was planning to argue that Huang was playing a game on his phone at the time — he had a pattern of playing games during commute hours, and investigators found a game was the frontmost app on his phone at the time, but couldn’t determine if he was actually playing it when the vehicle crashed. Tesla wanted to drag Apple into the trial, subpoenaing the company for proof that Apple knew he was playing the game, and Apple has been trying to quash that subpoena.
Update, 7:35PM ET: Added extra details from today’s courtroom minutes.
This week, Tesla was scheduled to appear in court to defend its Autopilot system against a claim of wrongful death — but it looks like the company will pay the family of Apple engineer Wei “Walter” Huang instead. Court documents show that Tesla is trying to seal the amount of…
Recent Posts
- I tried this new online AI agent, and I can’t believe how good Convergence AI’s Proxy 1.0 is at completing multiple online tasks simultaneously
- I cannot describe how strange Elon Musk’s CPAC appearance was
- Over a million clinical records exposed in data breach
- Rabbit AI’s new tool can control your Android phone, but I’m not sure how I feel about letting it control my smartphone
- Rabbit AI’s new tool can control your Android phones, but I’m not sure how I feel about letting it control my smartphone
Archives
- February 2025
- January 2025
- December 2024
- November 2024
- October 2024
- September 2024
- August 2024
- July 2024
- June 2024
- May 2024
- April 2024
- March 2024
- February 2024
- January 2024
- December 2023
- November 2023
- October 2023
- September 2023
- August 2023
- July 2023
- June 2023
- May 2023
- April 2023
- March 2023
- February 2023
- January 2023
- December 2022
- November 2022
- October 2022
- September 2022
- August 2022
- July 2022
- June 2022
- May 2022
- April 2022
- March 2022
- February 2022
- January 2022
- December 2021
- November 2021
- October 2021
- September 2021
- August 2021
- July 2021
- June 2021
- May 2021
- April 2021
- March 2021
- February 2021
- January 2021
- December 2020
- November 2020
- October 2020
- September 2020
- August 2020
- July 2020
- June 2020
- May 2020
- April 2020
- March 2020
- February 2020
- January 2020
- December 2019
- November 2019
- September 2018
- October 2017
- December 2011
- August 2010