Tesla is going to court next week<\/a> over the role its Autopilot system played in a fatal crash in 2018 \u2014 and it wants Apple to testify in its defense. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n Tesla wants to prove that Apple engineer Wei \u201cWalter\u201d Huang\u00a0was playing a video game on his phone at the time his Autopilot-enabled Model X smashed into a safety barrier along US Highway 101 in Mountain View, California, in 2018. And now, Huang\u2019s family, which is suing Tesla for wrongful death<\/a>, is claiming that Tesla is secretly working with Apple to aid in its defense. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n In a pretrial motion filed this week, lawyers representing Huang\u2019s family accused Apple of \u201cengaging in a secret discovery \u2018work around\u2019 to help support Tesla in its defense of the pending case.\u201d <\/p>\n<\/div>\n Huang\u2019s family accused Apple of \u201cengaging in a secret discovery \u2018work around\u2019 to help support Tesla\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n In its initial investigation<\/a>, the National Transportation Safety Board found that a video game \u2014 \u201ca world-building strategy game with multiplayer capability\u201d \u2014\u00a0was the frontmost app on Huang\u2019s phone at the time of the crash. But investigators could not determine whether he was actively playing it when his Model X slammed into the concrete divider. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cThe log data are not specific enough to ascertain whether the Tesla driver was holding the phone at the time of the crash,\u201d NTSB said in its report. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n However, historical cellphone logs from Huang\u2019s phone found \u201ca pattern of active game play\u201d during morning commute hours in the days leading up to the crash and data transmission \u201cconsistent with online game activity\u201d in the minutes leading up to the crash. Huang\u2019s family claims he was letting games run passively on his phone to collect data. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n The Huang family\u2019s lawyers now say that Tesla, with the help of Apple, is \u201ctrying to refute this at the 11th hour\u201d by submitting a declaration from an Apple engineer, James Harding, that states that the company determined that Huang was actively playing the game at the time of the crash. Harding has worked at Apple for 18 years as a manager of \u201csystem debug tools and services,\u201d according to his LinkedIn<\/a>. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n Historical cellphone logs from Huang\u2019s phone found \u201ca pattern of active game play\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n By submitting Harding\u2019s testimony as a declaration rather than through a deposition, Tesla and Apple are trying to \u201ccircumvent the discovery process,\u201d the lawyers representing Huang\u2019s family contend. They also slam the companies for submitting Harding\u2019s declaration five months after the close of discovery, denying them the opportunity to question the Apple manager before the trial. Tesla plans on calling Harding as a witness. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n The Huang family\u2019s lawyers have subpoenaed Apple, seeking more information about Harding\u2019s declaration. Last month, Apple filed an application to quash the subpoena, arguing the Huang lawyers were seeking \u201ca substantial volume of Apple\u2019s privileged material.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cApple is not a party to this case, has never appeared, and has not received any notice of entry of order relating to the dispute,\u201d the company\u2019s lawyers argue in its application to quash the subpoena. \u201cWhile Apple is ready to work in good faith with the Parties and to fulfill its obligations as a non-party witness, it is very unclear on its present obligations and seeks guidance from the Court.\u201d (An Apple spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cApple is not a party to this case\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n The trial is a major test for Tesla\u2019s ongoing legal efforts to pin crashes involving Autopilot on driver inattention. Tesla\u2019s strategy has been successful in previous trials in which it has avoided culpability in at least two wrongful death suits. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n The Huang case is shaping up to be a crucial test for this defense. Tesla insists that Autopilot is safe and only fails when drivers are distracted. But the Huang family\u2019s legal team plans on citing instances in which Tesla\u2019s own executives and engineers<\/a> have admitted to checking emails while using Autopilot. Previously, Tesla has argued that some of these statements, including from Elon Musk himself, should not be admissible because they could be deepfakes<\/a>. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n