Xiaomi Driverless Technology in Focus After Fatal Electric Car Crash
A popular electric vehicle made by the Chinese consumer electronics giant Xiaomi crashed into a concrete guardrail while deploying its autonomous driving feature. Three people died.China’s Xiaomi, a consumer electronics giant turned automaker, said it is cooperating with a police investigation into a fatal crash involving one of its electric vehicles while the driver was using the car’s autonomous driving features.A Xiaomi SU7 sedan drove into a concrete guardrail on an expressway in eastern China late on Saturday night at around 60 miles per hour, according to a post on Xiaomi’s official social media account. On Tuesday, local media published reports about the collision and ensuing fire, which killed three college students, along with pictures of the charred remains of the vehicle.Xiaomi said the driver deployed the company’s Navigate On Autopilot, an assisted driving feature, while going around 70 miles per hour on the expressway. The car was traveling at that speed when it reached a roadblock, because a portion of the road was under repair with traffic diverted into a different lane.Seconds before the collision, the car warned that there were obstacles ahead and started to decelerate but it was too late. The company said it called the police and emergency services.The fatal crash took place one year after the launch of Xiaomi’s SU7 electric vehicle, marking a major shift for a company that had gained a cultlike following for its smartphones and home appliances. And the SU7, which bears a resemblance to the Porsche Taycan at a fraction of the price, has been a breakthrough success in China’s cutthroat electric vehicle market. It sold more than 200,000 units in its first year.The ability of a company with no automotive experience to build and sell a car capable of gaining market share so quickly is a testament to the advantages of China’s supply chain of batteries and key components for electric vehicles. It is also a warning to the automotive industry that the competition is no longer limited to traditional car brands, but to almost any company adept at manufacturing electronic products efficiently and inexpensively.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More