General Motors (GM, Financial) stock price fell 1% to start the week after a report that the company is being sued in a self-driving vehicle lawsuit. The automaker has made a recent push into autonomous vehicles, with Navigant putting the company ahead of Waymo in the autonomous vehicle push.
The company's Chevy Bolt is its mass-market electronic vehicle, which came on the market before Nissan's LEAF and Tesla's Model 3. The Bolt is the company's foray into autonomous vehicles, with a robo-taxi being announced.
The Chevy Bolt is also the main reason that the company's stock is down to start the week.
A lawsuit, filed by a San Francisco motorcyclist alleges that the company's Bolt vehicle veered into the driver's lane and knocked him off of his motorcycle. The lawsuit is the world's first against driverless technology. Industry experts fear that it is just one of many that automakers will need to deal with as autonomous vehicles go from testing to the mass market.
The vehicle did have a driver behind the steering wheel, according to the lawsuit, but the driver's hands were off of the steering wheel as the vehicle maintained control.
The plaintiff, Oscar Willhelm Nilsson, claims that he suffered neck and shoulder injuries that will require long-term treatment.
GM argues that the police report puts the fault of the accident on the motorcyclist and not the autonomous vehicle.
"In evaluating a case where it involves a defective product, not only can it be the people who manufactured the product, but it can also involve the people or companies who introduced it into what is called 'the stream of commerce,' meaning whoever sold you that product (the car dealership or whatever the product might be) could also be held liable for the defective product," stated Sigurdson Law.
GM stock has remained a strong pick for investors over the last 12-month period, with the company's stock rising 18.41%. The company's stock is down 0.48% in the past three months. GM is slated to release its most recent earnings report next week.
The company sold its European business with an effort to increase production of key pickup trucks and SUVs.
Investors fear that slumping U.S. sales will impact GM's bottom line, as Ford (F) and Tesla (TSLA) have both struggled. GM claims that the company's sales are expected to be aligned with 2017 sales figures. GM is also keeping its focus on the robi-taxi market which, in the long-term, will propel the company's sales forward and help offset any losses from falling U.S. sales.
Analysts expect GM to post an adjusted earnings per share of $1.39 in the final quarter of last year.
Revenue is expected to be down from $43.9 billion to $36.9 billion. The company remains confident that its sales in 2018 will remain strong, while Ford blames higher commodity prices for the subpar year.
The recent lawsuit also complicates GM's future roadmap of plans with the company vowing to have full autonomous vehicles on the road by 2019.
Disclosure: The author does not own any shares in the listed equities.
