Who may be liable in a driver-assist crash?
Many driver-assistance systems on the road today, including Tesla Autopilot and Full Self-Driving (Supervised), are Level 2 systems, meaning the human driver is still expected to supervise. Even so, responsibility can be shared. Possible responsible parties include:
- The driver, if they were inattentive or misused the system
- The manufacturer, if a design defect, manufacturing defect, or inadequate warning contributed (California product liability law)
- Other drivers, road agencies, or repair shops
In California (rules differ by state), comparative fault applies, so you may recover damages even if you were partly at fault, reduced by your share. Courts have begun weighing these questions. In 2025, a federal jury in Miami in Benavides v. Tesla found Tesla partly responsible for a 2019 crash involving a vehicle using Autopilot; Tesla said it would appeal. Every case depends on its specific facts, and past results do not predict future outcomes.
General information only, not legal advice.