The case is the first suit related to fatal crashes involving the electric vehicle company’s Autopilot system to go to trial.

Tesla faces three more trials over fatal Autopilot crashes in the next nine months in California. It’s also scheduled to go to trial in Houston over a case brought on behalf of five police officers badly injured on the side of a freeway when a Tesla on Autopilot plowed into a parked squad car at 70 miles (113 kilometers) per hour.

Mr. Musk has said on many occasions since Autopilot was rolled out in 2015 that the system is much safer than human drivers and has claimed that Tesla’s technology was close to being able to pilot cars with no driver. Tesla uses the name Full Self-Driving for an advanced version of Autopilot, although it still requires drivers to remain attentive.