Tesla has been ordered to pay $243m in punitive and compensatory damages relating to a collision involving one of its cars in 2019. As the Tesla approached an intersection, its driver, George McGee, who was using auto-pilot at the time, dropped his mobile phone. He tried to recover the phone, but as he did, his car went through the intersection and ended up colliding with an SUV and two pedestrians who were stood by the SUV, one being killed, the other serious injured.

The story, which has been covered by the Washington Post, the New York Post and the BBC, demonstrates perfectly why the right skill set is just as important as impartiality when investigating serious collisions, particularly those where some is killed or has life-changing injuries.

When asked initially, Tesla stated they couldn’t find any files relating to this collision. Thankfully for us all, in a last ditch attempt the team representing the families of those involved, took possession of the control units from the Police and got an independent “hacker” to assess the data on them. The hacker managed to find the missing files whilst drinking a coffee at Starbucks, data which Tesla couldn’t find.

In this case, the data was crucial, but it raises wider issues around what data is being stored on cars generally, not just Tesla’s, and how we can access that data. If we are reliant on manufacturers to disclose data which may incriminate them, it is inevitable that the data may go “missing” for a time and even if data is provided, how do we know conclusively that we have all the data, not just part of the data.

As someone who investigates serious, life-changing and fatal collisions, data like this can take opinion out of the equation and replace it with fact and so it is imperative that we find a way to access and recover that data.

I can think of a handful of cases personally where I’ve inspected vehicles believing there should be data, to be told there is nothing. How do any of us know when we’re told there is no data, that this is the truth?

Well done to Trisha Thadani and Faiz Siddiqui from the Washington Post and Ariel Zilber from the New York Post for really interesting articles.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2025/08/29/tesla-autopilot-crashes-evidence-testimony-wrongful-death/