I’ve posted this story before, but this one from Arstechnica.com has far more details into what the Judge has said and done in this case.
So, can a company be trialed for manslaughter? Or is it homicide in this case because of the negligence?
Maybe? But that’s not what this case is about. This is a civil case, not a criminal one. If I were to guess, this is “Wrongful death” (ie: negligence)… not manslaughter (ie: recklessness).
Remember that “someone dies” is split up into different laws depending on intent. Murder (intended to kill someone), Homicide / Manslaughter (recklessness: you did something you weren’t supposed to do. You knew it might kill someone and you did kill someone), and finally “Wrongful Death” (negligence: you were supposed to do something but you didn’t, leading to someone’s death).
As a civil-case, this Tesla Autopilot case is set to lesser-damages (there’s no jailtime here).
In some countries that is a thing however in the United States it is not. The individuals directly involved could be changed with negligent manslaughter and professional negligence but the worst the corporation would see is having their business license revoked and or heavy fines from a regulatory body.