Tesla has reached a settlement in a lawsuit tied to a fatal crash from 2023, in which the vehicle was using the advanced driver-assistance system known as Full Self-Driving (FSD). The terms of the settlement were not disclosed. The lawsuit was filed by the daughter of Jona Story, a 71-year-old woman who died after getting out of her car to direct traffic around a previous crash caused by sun glare - and was struck by a Tesla Model Y.

The settlement closes the family's dispute, but not the bigger problem for Tesla. The US traffic safety agency (NHTSA) opened an investigation into the FSD software back in 2024, after four reported crashes in low-visibility conditions - among them the one involving Story. In March 2026 the investigation was upgraded to an engineering analysis, in which the agency wrote that the system "fails to detect and to warn the driver in time in conditions of reduced visibility" - glare, fog, dust.

That's not all. The federal agency also opened a second investigation in October 2025, after reports that the software makes vehicles run red lights or drive in the wrong lane. What's at stake? Among the possible outcomes is a recall of vehicles from the market.

A settlement with undisclosed terms is a classic move - you pay to close the story before it reaches a courtroom and before the numbers go public. But while one family gets a quiet ending, the question about the safety of the system Tesla sells as "self-driving" stays open before the regulators. The technology that promises a driverless future still can't recognize sun in your eyes - and that's a difference measured in human lives.