While the cause of the Nio ES8's traffic accident last week is still under investigation, an Nio technician has been summoned for having personal access to the accident vehicle, Sina Tech reported Monday.
Lin Wenqin, the founder of Chinese restaurant brand Meiyihao, was killed in a traffic accident while driving an Nio ES8 in Fujian last Thursday. The ES8 had the NOP (Navigation On Pilot) turned on, Meiyihao said in an obituary released on Saturday.
The Nio technician had access to the vehicle in question to operate it without the consent of the traffic police, said Lin Lihong, a lawyer appointed by Lin's family to represent the case, adding that the traffic police had summoned the Nio technician to make a statement yesterday.
If the result of the investigation is that the vehicle data was tampered with or destroyed, the technician will be suspected of a criminal offense and Nio will be fully responsible for the accident, the lawyer said.
In response, Nio sources said the company has been looking into the matter internally, 21jingji.com reported Monday.
The vehicle was badly damaged, and technicians at the scene were limited in what they could do in the first place. Nio has sent a team to Fujian, the company's co-founding president Qin Lihong said on the Nio app on Sunday.
"We will not release any unilateral information until the investigation is concluded," he said.
After the accident, Nio said the NOP was not an autopilot and that the findings would be released when available.
The Nio NOP manual clearly mentions that the pilot assist cannot respond to static obstacles such as roadblocks and warning triangles and that if there is an accident or construction zone ahead, please take over the vehicle immediately to control direction and speed.
