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Tesla Driver Charged with Manslaughter in Deadly Autopilot Crash Raises New Legal Questions about Automated Driving Tech
A deadly 2019 crash involving a Tesla Model S has prompted renewed scrutiny over who should be held liable in such cases.
The Tesla slammed into a Honda Civic, killing both occupants.
The Tesla driver, Kevin George Aziz Riad, 27, was charged with two felony counts of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence for the deaths of Gilberto Alcazar Lopez and Maria Guadalupe Nieves-Lopez.
An April 2020 civil lawsuit filed by Gilberto’s family in Los Angeles County Superior Court alleged that at the time of the December 2019 crash, Riad was traveling at an “excessively high rate of speed” while using Tesla’s Autopilot feature. The semi-automated driving technology can steer, brake and accelerate the car on its own.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration confirmed that Autopilot was active at the time of the crash after sending officials to investigate, The Associated Press reported.
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Biden Says He'll Name a Black Woman as Supreme Court Pick by End of February
Washington — President Biden praised retiring Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer at the White House on Thursday, and said he plans to announce his nominee to fill Breyer's seat before the end of February. The president also reiterated his commitment to nominating a Black woman to the nation's highest court. Mr. Biden and Breyer appeared together Thursday, one day after news emerged that Breyer plans to step down after nearly 28 years on the Supreme Court. The president praised Breyer for his intellect, legal insight, work ethic, optimism and patriotism. "This is sort of a bittersweet day for me. Justice Breyer and I go back a long way," Mr. Biden said, noting his "clear-eyed commitment to making our country's laws work for its people."
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Four Attorneys General Sue Google for 'Deceptive' Location Tracking
Washington (CNN Business)A bipartisan group of attorneys general sued Google on Monday, alleging that the technology giant has used "dark patterns" and deceptive practices to track users' physical location even when those users have made efforts to block Google from doing so.
The parallel lawsuits by the District of Columbia, Texas, Indiana and Washington state zero in on Google's collection of location data, which can be used to target advertising and build profiles on internet users.
The DC Attorney General's lawsuit alleges that since 2014, Google (GOOG) has made misleading public statements about how users can opt out of location tracking. Despite offering settings in users' Google accounts that promised to restrict location data tracking, Google allegedly failed to mention how certain other settings — such as in individual apps or in other areas of Google's settings panel — might continue to allow the tech giant to keep collecting location data unbeknownst to the user.
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The Associated Press Scolds Conservatives for Opposing Racial Discrimination in Covid Care
The AP’s ‘Republicans Pounce’ Moment
On Sunday, an Associated Press reporter embarrassingly attacked conservatives for opposing discriminatory practices in health-care in a story titled, “New Conservative Target: Race as factor in COVID treatment.”
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Israel Says Some Protesters Against COVID Measures are Fuelling Anti-Semitism
JERUSALEM, Jan 27 (Reuters) - Protesters against COVID-19 measures who liken themselves to Jews under Nazi persecution are stoking global anti-Semitism, the Israeli government said in a report marking International Holocaust Remembrance Day.Such Holocaust tropes have become "widespread" and, along with violent demonstrations linked to Israel's May war in Gaza, were main factors behind physical or online attacks on Jews in Europe and North America last year, said the 152-page report by the Diaspora Affairs Ministry.