According to court documents released on Monday, Tesla has settled a 2018 car accident lawsuit. In the accident, an Apple engineer lost control while driving an Autopilot mode Model X on a San Francisco highway, resulting in his death.

Both parties reached a settlement on the eve of the trial, and the terms of the settlement were not disclosed.

Previously, relatives of the victims claimed that Autopilot caused the Model X they were driving to collide with a guardrail on the highway. Based on last month's court testimony, the plaintiff's lawyer asked Tesla's witnesses if the company knew that drivers did not pay attention to the road when using their driving assistance system.

Tesla stated that the engineer was playing video games before the accident and believed that this was an abuse of Autopilot technology.

The tragedy of this Apple engineer is one of hundreds of accidents that have occurred in the United States, believed to be related to Tesla's strong push for Autopilot.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration of the United States has investigated at least 956 accidents allegedly caused by the use of Autopilot, resulting in 23 fatalities. The agency has conducted more than 40 separate investigations into accidents involving the use of Tesla auto drive system.

"For me, Tesla's public announcement and eventual settlement approach is surprising. However, it indicates that other lawyers may accept signals of settlement and we may not always choose confrontation," said Bryant Walker Smith, a law professor at the University of South Carolina.

Previously, Tesla won two Autopilot cases in California by arguing that the driver did not follow their instructions to maintain attention while using the system.

Although Musk, the co-founder and CEO of Tesla, has claimed for many years that he will soon be able to produce autonomous vehicle, he has still failed to prove his ability to produce autonomous vehicle.

Last Friday, Musk announced that Tesla plans to unveil an autonomous robot taxi on August 8th. There are reports that Tesla has abandoned its low-cost car strategy and instead supports robot taxis.

Tesla claims that Autopilot can adjust speed based on surrounding traffic and navigate within highway lanes. The upgraded version of Autopilot, priced at $6000, includes automatic lane changing, highway ramp navigation, and automatic parking functions. The "FSD" priced at $12000 also includes autonomous driving features for city streets, such as traffic light recognition.

Sam Abuelsamid, an analyst at Guidehouse Insights, said that any adverse report would lead to sales decline and damage to Tesla's brand.