April 8 (Reuters) - Tesla has settled a lawsuit

over a 2018 car crash that killed an Apple ( AAPL ) engineer in 2018

after his Model X operating on Autopilot swerved off a highway

near San Francisco, court documents showed on Monday.

The settlement was made as the trial was about to start over

the high-profile accident involving Tesla's driver assistant

technology, ending a five-year legal battle over the case.

The terms of the settlement were not disclosed.

The case involves a highway accident that killed Walter

Huang. Tesla had contended Huang misused the Autopilot system

because he was playing a video game just before the accident.

Huang's family had alleged Autopilot steered his 2017 Model

X into a highway barrier. Lawyers for Huang's family had also

raised questions about whether Tesla understood drivers likely

would not or could not use the system as directed, and what

steps the automaker took to protect them.

Huang's lawyer and Tesla were not immediately available for

comment.

The crash that killed Huang was among hundreds of U.S.

accidents in which Autopilot was a suspected factor in reports

to auto safety regulators.

The Autopilot system can steer, accelerate and brake by

itself on the open road but cannot fully replace a human driver,

especially in city driving. Tesla materials explaining the

system warn that it does not make the car autonomous and

requires a "fully attentive driver" who can "take over at any

moment".