Following the death of a 31-year-old man who crashed his NIO ES8 while its ‘Navigate on Pilot’ semi-autonomous system was enabled, the electric carmaker has introduced a test that all of its vehicle owners must complete before accessing the driver assistance suite.
In a bid to prevent other crashes triggered by owners not paying attention while behind the wheel, NIO has rolled out a test available through its smartphone application available to owners. Electrek reports that this test consists of a six-minute video that explains the purpose and abilities of the Navigate on Pilot system, emphasizing that it is an assisted driving feature and does not enable complete autonomous driving.
In addition, the video reiterates that drivers must remain alert at all times and be ready to take control of the car at a moment’s notice. It then features a 10 multiple-choice questions that users must complete and answer correctly. If they do this, they will receive 200 NIO credits and gain access to the Navigate on Pilot system, which is essentially NIO’s equivalent to Tesla’s Autopilot and GM’s SuperCruise.
What Happened?
The incident involving a NIO ES8 which triggered the automaker to implement this test occurred on August 12 and claimed the life of 31-year-old entrepreneur Lin Wenqin. The crash happened while the vehicle’s Navigate on Pilot system was enabled and according to investigations, the ES8 first hit a bucket on the side of the road before slamming into a highway maintenance vehicle, causing the electric SUV to roll multiple times.
