China’s ‘Tesla’ Malfunctions Trapping Passengers Inside, Causes Traffic Jams in Beijing
By Carl Samson
A smart car developed by a company many call “China’s version of Tesla,” NIO, shut down and locked itself during a recent test drive in Beijing.
The vehicle, which caused a traffic jam along the bustling Chang’an Avenue, trapped passengers inside for at least an hour.
According to screenshots that made rounds on Weibo, the shutdown occurred when the passengers attempted to upgrade the vehicle’s operating system.
Police officers reportedly came to free the passengers multiple times but to no apparent avail.
In a statement on Tuesday, NIO, put the blame on the driver for making “continuous mistakes” during the upgrade process.
According to the company, upgrading takes an hour to complete and it requires the vehicle to be in park mode with all electronics disabled.
NIO vowed to optimize the upgrade process, particularly its confirmation and reminder prompts, to prevent similar events in the future.
Meanwhile, netizens ridiculed the incident on social media, blaming either the vehicle’s flawed engineering or the driver’s carelessness.
“Well at least for now, no other car in the world can stop at Chang’an Avenue for one full hour.”
“It’s so smart that it lets you enjoy the scenery at Chang’an Avenue for that long.”
“The driver probably pushed prompts without actually understanding them.”
“It’s just so strange that a smart car would stop in the middle of the street.”
“So is this what you call world-class intelligence?”
Featured Image via Weibo / nextevofficial
Share this Article
Share this Article
