A US jury has ruled that Elon Musk's car company Tesla was partly responsible for a deadly crash in Florida involving its Autopilot driver assist technology.
The company was sued by the family of Naibel Benavides Leon, 22, who was killed when she was struck by a Model S at a T-intersection in the Florida Keys in 2019.
Her boyfriend Dillon Angulo suffered life-long injuries and was also involved in the suit.
The federal jury held that Tesla bore significant responsibility because its technology failed and that not all the blame can be put on a driver, even though he admitted he was distracted by his mobile phone before hitting a young couple out gazing at the stars.
The body of Ms Benavides was found 22-metres from where she was struck in a wooded area in Florida.
Tesla has been ordered to pay her family and her boyfriend, who was seriously injured, $243 million in damages.
Tesla has vowed to appeal the decision.
The decision comes as Mr Musk seeks to convince Americans his cars are safe enough to drive on their own as he plans to roll out a driverless taxi service in several cities in the coming months.
The company has claimed driver George McGee was solely to blame for the fatal crash because he had reached down to pick up a dropped mobile phone as his car sped through an intersection in Key Largo, Florida, at about 62mph.
Neither Mr McGee, nor the Autopilot software, hit the brakes in time to prevent the crash.
Mr McGee settled a separate lawsuit with the plaintiffs for an undisclosed sum.
Brett Schreiber, who represented the victims, said: "Tesla designed Autopilot only for controlled-access highways yet deliberately chose not to restrict drivers from using it elsewhere, alongside Elon Musk telling the world Autopilot drove better than humans.
"Today's verdict represents justice for Naibel's tragic death and Dillon's lifelong injuries."
In a statement, Tesla said: "Today's verdict is wrong and only works to set back automotive safety and jeopardise Tesla's and the entire industry's efforts to develop and implement life-saving technology."
