Technology keeps moving fast, but justice still has to chase it down.
Self-driving cars were sold as the future of safety. Instead, they’ve caused wrecks, deaths, and courtroom battles from coast to coast.
These cases are forcing America to answer a hard question: when a machine makes the mistake, who pays the price?
TESLA’s Might Be the Biggest Headline Yet
In California, a jury found TESLA partly liable for a deadly crash involving its Autopilot system. The verdict said what many families have been saying for years — that technology isn’t a shield against accountability. (Source: NBC News, Sept. 2025.)
TESLA also settled two lawsuits just weeks earlier over 2019 crashes in California tied to the same software. According to Reuters, both families claimed Autopilot failed to recognize obstacles before impact. TESLA avoided a public trial, but the story made waves across the country.
It showed how far courts are willing to go when powerful companies refuse to face the harm their products cause.
The Uber Case That Started It All
Before TESLA made headlines, Uber faced its own reckoning. In Arizona, a self-driving test car hit and killed a pedestrian in 2018. It was the first known death caused by a fully autonomous vehicle.
The backup driver later pled guilty to endangerment. Uber’s technology never “saw” the woman crossing the road. That tragedy exposed the risks hiding behind the promise of innovation and showed how quickly convenience can turn deadly. (Source: CNN, July 2023.)
What These Verdicts Mean for Victims
These self-driving car accident settlements and autonomous vehicle verdicts prove one thing: when a company’s technology kills or injures someone, it has to answer for it.
The law may be new in this area, but the principle isn’t. If you put something dangerous on the road, you’re responsible for what it does.
These cases often involve product defects, negligence, and wrongful death. The science is complicated. The suffering is not. Real people get hurt while corporations talk about “progress.”
Georgia’s Time Will Come
Georgia hasn’t seen its first big self-driving verdict yet, but that day is coming. Every week, more cars with “autopilot” and “driver assist” systems roll onto our roads. And every week, those systems make decisions that can end in tragedy.
When it happens here, Georgia families will need a lawyer who understands both the technology and the courtroom. Someone who doesn’t blink when big tech or big money shows up.
At Cheeley Law Group, we dig into the data. We expose what companies try to hide. We fight to make sure the truth comes out and justice is done. When negligence hides behind a line of code, we bring it to light.
If a self-driving or semi-autonomous vehicle hurt you or someone you love, don’t wait for the company to explain it away. Call us. Let’s find out what really happened and make them answer for it.
