Electric car manufacturer US agency investigates Tesla accidents

Status: 06/18/2021 10:49 a.m.

The US traffic safety authority NHTSA has investigated 30 accidents with Tesla models since 2016. It examines whether and how the use of Tesla’s assistance system for automated driving influenced the accidents. In recent years, accidents involving Tesla models have repeatedly raised the question of the extent to which there is a connection with the assistance system for automated driving. Does the US electric car manufacturer’s autopilot pose any particular dangers? To find out, the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is currently investigating 30 accidents involving Tesla models. The accidents have occurred since 2016 and claimed a total of ten deaths. The NHTSA has now published an official list with details of the accidents investigated for the first time, as reported by Reuters news agency.

Sensational accident in Texas

Accordingly, eight new investigations have been initiated since March 2021. In three of the 30 cases, the involvement of the autopilot in the accident could be excluded, according to the NHTSA. Two final reports are ready.

An accident in Texas in April caused a sensation in which a Tesla Model S hit a tree and immediately caught fire . Two men died in the accident. It is believed that neither of them had been behind the wheel. The authority is currently investigating six other incidents from other manufacturers in which assistance systems may be involved.

Problems in china

The US electrical manufacturer Tesla is repeatedly confronted with all kinds of safety concerns, most recently in the important Chinese market.

For example, an event at the Shanghai auto show in April caused a sensation. A woman at the Tesla booth got into a Model 3 from the manufacturer and complained screaming about brake failure. It was taken away by security guards while the videos were spreading online. The Chinese market supervisory authority then intervened, and state media called for an investigation into Tesla.

Tesla is the best-selling electric car in China. The group has also been producing in Shanghai since 2019. A quarter of all Teslas now roll off the assembly line there

BGH on Legal Tech When the software replaces the lawyer

Status: 06/17/2021 6:46 a.m.

Anyone who wants to draw up an individual contract goes to a lawyer. That’s how it was before. In the meantime, however, this can also be done online, without legal assistance. The BGH is now examining whether this is permissible. What are the sticking points?

By Kerstin Anabah and Pia Brandsch-Böhm

What is the specific case about?

The publisher Wolters Kluwer offers the legal document generator “Smartlaw”. With the help of the software, private individuals and companies can create and then purchase individual legal documents, such as rental agreements. To do this, customers have to answer 30 to 40 questions. The whole thing was “modeled on the conversation with the lawyer”, according to the original advertisement.

Wolters Kluwer is not admitted to the bar and is not licensed to provide legal services. The Hamburg Bar Association has therefore sued the publisher (Az. I ZR 113/20). She sees the Legal Tech offer as an anti-competitive violation of the Legal Services Act. It regulates who is allowed to provide legal services – for example lawyers or debt collection companies.

How have the courts decided so far?

The Cologne Regional Court gave the Bar Association in law. It saw in the contract generator a violation of the Legal Services Act. Wolters Kluwer appealed against this to the Cologne Higher Regional Court – with success. According to the Cologne Higher Regional Court, this is not a legal service, as there is no human (service) performance. The documents would be created by software. There is no customer contact because the customer operates the software himself. In addition, no legal examination of the individual case is necessary, since the program runs according to a fixed routine and a situation is only inserted into a given grid.

Have there already been judgments in similar cases?

As early as 2019, the Federal Court of Justice ruled on a legal aid program in the ruling on “kleineermiete.de”. At that time the question was whether a rental price calculator represents a collection or a legal service. With this online calculator, customers could see by entering their data whether they were paying too much rent and immediately defend themselves against it. For this purpose, the program directly commissioned the company behind it to enforce the rights. The BGH has declared this rental price calculator to be permissible.

How the first civil senate decides in the case of the contract generator is open. The industry for such offers is booming. The ruling is therefore likely to be another important step towards greater legal certainty.