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TWO PEOPLE INVOLVED in testing for the electric car brand Nio have died after one of its vehicles fell three floors from a Shanghai parking garage, the company said.
Thursday’s crash was under investigation but appeared to be an accident and “not caused by the vehicle”, the company said in a statement.
It said the employees who died were “digital cabin testers”, one from Nio and the other from a partner.
The vehicle fell from the third floor of a building beside the firm’s Shanghai Innovation Port building, the company said.
Photos in Chinese media showed the vehicle lying on its side with its roof caved in, surrounded by broken glass and emergency workers.
Nio, founded in 2014, is a Chinese-Western hybrid with bases in Shanghai, London and Silicon Valley and the most prominent premium-priced Chinese brand in a crowded electric vehicle industry with dozens of competitors.
Its early investors included Chinese tech giants Tencent, Baidu and Lenovo.
The company has a service that allows owners to swap drained batteries instead of recharging them. It has set up 143 battery-swap stations in cities including Beijing and Shanghai.
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But let’s get this straight: This WAS NOT CAUSED BY THE VEHICLE!!!!!
@Stanley Marsh: that was my take also. Clearly human fault
@Fintan O’Halloran: obviously, if the humans weren’t in it they wouldn’t be dead. Completely their fault.
@Stanley Marsh: caused by capitalism!
@Stanley Marsh: Good to hear its not just irish people that are mentally unfit to drive
Buying a few Nio shares might be a good move.
There was talk of that brand coming into Ireland. Hopefully it’ll be multi storey carpark proof by then
@Paul: Hopefully it’s not, we could do with a few of the drivers here, off the road.
Engineers don’t normally accept “accident” or human error as the root cause of an accident. Thats why the airline industry is so safe. They will investigate which process failed, Plan, Design, Build, Operate, Maintain, Repair. Usually the root cause is at Design stage.
@Neuville-Kepler62F: in fairness I think the root cause is gravity
@Dave Harris: hahaha nice one Dave
Testing a car on a roof? Like training a chimp to load a gun?
@Keth Warsaw: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lingotto
That’s shocking ⚡
Doesn’t look the parking garage wall was very strong.
have your say