The heartbroken family of 31-year-old Genesis Giovanni Mendoza Martinez is pointing fingers at Elon Musk after a tragic accident involving a Tesla in ‘autopilot’ mode resulted in their son’s untimely death.

On February 18, 2023, Martinez found himself at the mercy of technology as his vehicle, while operating in ‘autopilot’, led to a devastating collision, costing him his life.

His family, including parents Eduardo and Maria, along with his brother Caleb, were also in the car and sustained injuries.

The family is now seeking justice through legal action against Tesla.

The Martinez family is specifically holding Mr. Musk accountable for allowing what they describe as an ‘ill-equipped’ vehicle to be on the roads, leading to their devastating loss.

Tesla, on its part, has responded with a firm stance stating that their car’s design is reasonably safe and abides by applicable state laws. They have hinted that the accident might have resulted from possible negligence or omissions by the driver.

In a court filing, Tesla contended, “No additional warnings would have, or could have prevented the alleged incident, the injuries, losses, and damages alleged.”

The family’s lawyer, Brett Schreiber, has voiced strong criticism of Tesla’s approach, claiming, “This is yet another example of Tesla using our public roadways to perform research and development of its autonomous driving technology.”

He continued, highlighting a concern, “What’s worse is that Tesla knows that many of its earlier model vehicles continue to drive our roadways today with this same defect, putting first responders and the public at risk.”

According to Schreiber, the ‘autopilot’ feature is inadequately equipped to handle real-world driving conditions. He even suggested that Tesla may have hastily launched the product.

Giovanni Martinez had trusted the vehicle’s features, believing in Tesla’s claims about the ‘Autopilot’ with a ‘full self-driving’ upgrade being safer than human drivers. Tragically, this trust proved to be misplaced.

The crash occurred after the vehicle had been in ‘autopilot’ mode for 12 minutes. It collided with a firetruck at approximately 71 mph, leading to serious injuries for both Martinez’s family and four firefighters.

This incident has not gone unnoticed by the US government, which has also scrutinized Tesla’s ‘autopilot’ function.

RIP Genesis Giovanni Mendoza Martinez.