On Dec. 29, 2019, a Honda Civic pulled up to the intersection of Artesia Boulevard and Vermont Avenue in Gardena. It was just after midnight. The traffic light was green. As the car proceeded through the intersection, a 2016 Tesla Model S on Autopilot exited a freeway, ran through a red light and crashed into the Civic. The Civic's driver, Gilberto Alcazar Lopez, and his passenger, Maria Guadalupe Nieves-Lopez, were killed instantly.

A California motorist has become the first person to be charged over a fatal crash involving Tesla's Autopilot system. Kevin George Aziz Riad, 27, faces two counts of vehicular manslaughter after being behind the wheel of a Tesla when it ran a red light, crashing into another car and killing two people. It is the first time a motorist has been charged with a felony for an incident involving the electric car maker's partially automated driving system, according to the Associated Press. Los Angeles County prosecutors filed the charges in October, but details of the case have only just emerged. Mr Riad, who works as a limousine service driver, is out on bail while the case is pending.

California prosecutors have filed two counts of vehicular manslaughter against the driver of a Tesla on Autopilot that ran a red light, slammed into another car and killed two people in 2019. California prosecutors have filed two counts of vehicular manslaughter against the driver of a Tesla on Autopilot that ran a red light, slammed into another car and killed two people in 2019. DETROIT -- California prosecutors have filed two counts of vehicular manslaughter against the driver of a Tesla on Autopilot who ran a red light, slammed into another car and killed two people in 2019. The defendant appears to be the first person to be charged with a felony in the United States for a fatal crash involving a motorist who was using a partially automated driving system. Los Angeles County prosecutors filed the charges in October, but they came to light only last week.

Uber's self-driving cars will return to California's streets. But the company doesn't plan to pick up passengers in them, at least for now. The California Department of Motor Vehicles said Wednesday that it has granted Uber permission to run two Volvo SUVs on public roads. Agency spokeswoman Jessica Gonzalez said the DMV also approved 48 people as backup drivers who must sit behind the wheel in case the prototype cars malfunction. The permits resolve a conflict dating to December, when Uber rolled out a self-driving car service in San Francisco without the approval of state regulators.