Miguel Custodio, a car crash lawyer not involved in this trial, added: «This will open the floodgates. It will embolden a lot of people to come to court.»
A jury has ruled that Tesla is partly to blame for the death of a young woman who was hit by an electric car on Autopilot.
Naibel Benavides was stargazing at the time of the collision, which sent her flying 22m (75ft) through the air in Florida.
Her boyfriend was seriously injured in the 2019 incident, while her body was discovered in a wooded area.
The company has now been ordered to pay $243m (£183m) in damages to Ms Benavides’ family, and to her partner Dillon Angulo.
Jurors concluded that not all of the blame could be put on a reckless driver who admitted he was distracted by his phone before he hit the young couple.
The motorist, George McGee, reached a separate settlement with the victims’ families in an earlier case.
Brett Schreiber, who represented the victims, said: «Tesla designed Autopilot only for controlled-access highways yet deliberately chose not to restrict drivers from using it elsewhere, alongside Elon Musk telling the world Autopilot drove better than humans.
«Today’s verdict represents justice for Naibel’s tragic death and Dillon’s lifelong injuries.
