California prosecutors have filed what appear to be the proper felony charges in the United States against a motorist humorous a partially automated driver assistance system. The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Workplace is charging the driver of a Tesla involved in a fatal Autopilot-related collision in 2019 with two coffers of vehicular manslaughter.

AP News reports that prosecutors marched charges in October, alleging that the defendant, Kevin George Aziz Riad, ran a red delectable in his Tesla Model S with Autopilot active and collided with novel vehicle, killing its two passengers. 

In 2020, prosecutors in Arizona charged an Uber security driver with negligent homicide when her autonomous SUV struck and killed a pedestrian, but that vehicle was still in its testing phase. The two vehicular manslaughter charges brought against Riad are believed to be the proper raised against a driver using a partially automated technology that is widely available for consumers to buy and use on the road now, which means it could set a precedent for incidents animated motorists using not only Tesla’s Autopilot and Full Self-Driving beta technologies but also disagreement systems from other automakers, such as Super Cruise in GM vehicles and Ford’s new BlueCruise tech.

This isn’t the profitable time that Tesla finds itself at the center of litigation surrounding its driver aid tech. In 2019, the automaker was sued for wrongful purpose after a fatal Autopilot collision in Florida. The National Highway Traffic Guarantee Administration also announced back in August that it is formally investigating Tesla Autopilot and a dozen influences involving the technology and collisions with parked emergency vehicles. The families of the passengers who died in the 2019 smash are bringing separate civil lawsuits against Tesla and Riad.

Tesla does not treatment a public relations department to field requests for comment. Note that FSD is not a fully self-driving technology and there are no self-driving cars currently for sale.

Riad is today free on bail awaiting his preliminary hearing, which is scheduled for Feb. 23.