Tragedy with Xiaomi SU7 electric car renews debate in China about imperfection of autopilot

Last Saturday, one of the Xiaomi SU7 electric cars crashed into a concrete barrier at high speed in Anhui Province in eastern China, killing three female students who were inside. The carmaker has brought in its experts to investigate the circumstances of the tragedy, and the expert community has once again started talking about the imperfection of active driver assistance technologies.

Image Source: CarNewsChina

According to CarNewsChina, the sequence of tragic events of Saturday was reconstructed using the electronic logbook records of the electric vehicle that burned out as a result of the collision, provided by Xiaomi. About 17 minutes before the collision with a concrete barrier, the NOA autopilot was activated while driving on the highway, the vehicle’s speed at that time was 116 km/h. After a series of warnings about the need to hold the steering wheel two seconds before the collision with an obstacle, the driver received a notification about the detection of an obstacle and a request to reduce speed. A second before the collision, the driver attempted to correct the car’s trajectory and reduce speed, but the brake pedal was only depressed by 38% at the time of the collision. According to the investigation, the car’s speed at the time of the collision reached 97 km/h. Heavy road barriers were installed along the damaged electric vehicle’s route during the repairs.

Within two or three seconds of the collision with the obstacle, the SU7’s on-board electronics sent a call to the crisis center. Eleven seconds later, the collision was confirmed remotely and emergency services were called. Another 27 seconds were spent contacting the owner of the car, to whom it was registered. He reported that he was fine, but that another person had previously driven the electric car. At that time, the owner was far from the accident site. The ambulance left for the scene less than three minutes after the collision, and arrived at the scene a little over twelve minutes later. Unfortunately, no one in the damaged electric car could be saved.

The discussion of the circumstances of the accident also touched on the topic of door locking, which could have been one of the causes of the death of the students in the car. Xiaomi had to explain that the electric locks themselves might not have functioned after the accident, but each of the car doors is equipped with a forced mechanical unlocking mechanism. That is, the door locks themselves could not have become an obstacle to the evacuation of the victims. Another thing is that the impact at such a speed could have jammed the doors in the openings due to the deformation of the body, and then the operation of the locks no longer affected the outcome.

Xiaomi has formed a special group of experts who will assist the investigation. The company’s shares fell by 5% against the backdrop of the incident, and the next day they recovered no more than 1.5%. According to the SAE classification, the active driver assistance systems used in Chinese passenger cars are classified as level L2 or maximum L2+, which implies constant control over the traffic situation by a person. Moreover, he needs to keep his hands on the steering wheel and look at the road, immediately intervening in the operation of the automation if necessary. Chinese laws prohibit drivers from not holding the steering wheel while driving. None of the Chinese developers have yet created L3 autonomy systems, which allow in certain conditions not to hold the steering wheel and even take your eyes off the road.

At the same time, two-thirds of new vehicles sold in China this year, or about 15 million vehicles, will be equipped with L2 autonomy systems, and in the face of fierce competition, automakers are trying to actively promote such functionality of their products. Experts believe that millions of Chinese drivers need to properly use active assistance systems, and this problem should be monitored by government agencies, otherwise tragedies like the one on Saturday will be repeated with alarming frequency.