A Russian cybersecurity specialist, known by the pseudonym GreenTheOnly, played a decisive role in the investigation of a fatal accident involving a Tesla Model S, Business Insider reports. The accident occurred in Florida in 2019 – a car with autopilot engaged crashed into an obstacle. As a result, the driver died, and a passenger sustained serious injuries. Tesla long denied its guilt, and the trial dragged on for several years. In August 2025, a Miami court ordered the company to pay $243 million to the relatives of the deceased and the injured party.

GreenTheOnly previously collaborated with Tesla, helping to identify software vulnerabilities. He was brought into the case in 2024 at the request of the plaintiffs' lawyers. In a few minutes of working with a laptop in a coffee shop, before the astonished lawyers, he found lines of code confirming the data transfer to Tesla.

The specialist's reconstructed picture of the collision and data on the autopilot's operation became key evidence in court. After the high-profile case, control over the safety of cars with autopilot functions was strengthened in the USA, and Tesla tightened access to its systems' data.