Nio Electric Car Drives Out Third-Floor Window in Shanghai

pcmag.com:

Chinese electric car maker Nio is cooperating with a police investigation after one of its vehicles crashed out of a third-floor window killing two occupants.

The car, which looks like Nio's ET7 smart electric flagship sedan, fell from the third floor of the company's headquarters in Shanghai and on to the ground below. The HQ is thought to double as a showroom, a testing facility, or a car park for the company's vehicles.

As the BBC reports(Opens in a new window), in a statement Nio said it was working with public security and that, "Based on the analysis of the situation at the scene, we can initially confirm that this was an accident not caused by the vehicle." The statement continued, "We feel very sad about this accident and would like to express our deepest condolences to our colleague and partner employee who lost their lives. A team has been set up to help the families."

The part about it "not being caused by the vehicle" could be interpreted as Nio suggesting the occupants of the car were to blame. Even if that was the case, surely the vehicle's automatic safety systems should recognize the impending impact with the side of the building and perform an emergency stop? The building looks to be a mix of concrete and glass, which would require a fast-moving vehicle to break through.

Nio's statement attracted angry comments on Weibo due to the suggestion it wasn't a fault of the car. A revised statement was later posted with the "not caused by the vehicle" in brackets in an attempt to de-emphasize it. All of the angry comments were also removed and the remaining ones now all simply state "RIP."

Nio was founded in 2014 by Chinese entrepreneur William Li and is known for developing battery-swapping stations as an