On the afternoon of September 29. Hu Yadong, a senior operations manager at Sina Weibo, posted on the platform stating that the NIO ES8 he was driving experienced a system crash while in motion, causing the entire vehicle control system to fail and making it impossible to restart the car.
This incident, once exposed, immediately sparked concerns about the stability of electric vehicle systems. Some netizens even commented that NIO's system stability is not industrial-grade but consumer-grade, recommending that owners try restarting the vehicle by disconnecting and reconnecting the battery when encountering such issues.
Fortunately, thanks to the safety design where the driving computer and the central control computer operate independently, the vehicle's mechanical connection-based power system did not completely cease functioning after the system crash. This allowed the car to maintain basic driving capabilities, thus preventing any casualties.
As one of the more mature electric vehicle manufacturers in China, NIO officially listed on the US stock market on September 12. Its solid technological reserves have garnered significant investor interest, with its market value briefly exceeding $10 billion.
However, this severe safety incident with the NIO ES8 undoubtedly prompts society to reevaluate whether NIO remains a technology-driven company. If NIO cannot resolve its system stability issues, it faces the critical challenge of survival, let alone competing with Tesla.
Before the NIO ES8. Tesla also faced safety concerns, although external worries about Tesla were more focused on autonomous driving rather than vehicle body quality issues like those seen with NIO.
Electric vehicles represent a crucial area for China’s automotive industry to achieve rapid progress, and emerging companies like NIO have been held in high regard. This is one reason why NIO received nearly ten thousand pre-orders even before the actual vehicles were available.
However, as the industry rapidly develops, safety remains an essential factor that cannot be overlooked. Unlike computers or smartphones, any safety hazard in a car component could lead to a tragic accident.
