Elon Musk May Testify In Trial Alleging Autopilot Failure, Lawyers Say His Deep Fakes Exist

Tesla Inc TSLA CEO Elon Musk has been ordered to be interviewed under oath on his statements about autopilot.

What Happened: Judge Evette Pennypacker tentatively ordered that Musk be interviewed under oath on his statements about the safety of Tesla’s autopilot features, reported Reuters. The ruling was made in the lawsuit by the family of Walter Huang against Tesla in Santa Clara Superior Court.

Walter Huang was killed in 2018 in a Model X crash. The family alleges that the autopilot system failed, causing the accident.

Meanwhile, Tesla lawyers said that Musk has no recollection of the details of the statements the plaintiffs had questions on. As per the report, the lawyers also added that there are “deepfake” videos featuring the CEO showing him saying or doing things he never actually did.

According to Reuters, a hearing has been scheduled for Thursday to determine if indeed to depose the CEO.

Why It Matters: Earlier this month, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) said that it would open an investigation into a crash involving a 2022 Model Y vehicle and a 17-year-old. Since 2016, NHTSA has reportedly opened 40 crash investigations involving Tesla vehicles that may have been driven on Autopilot mode.

However, last week, a U.S. jury cleared Tesla in the first car crash trial involving autopilot filed by Los Angeles resident Justine Hsu. Tesla never claimed autopilot to be a self-pilot software, the jury noted.

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