In eastern China, three college students were killed when a Xiaomi SU7 electric sedan crashed into a concrete guardrail on an expressway late Saturday. The driver was reportedly using the car’s autonomous driving features, leading to scrutiny of Xiaomi’s role in the accident and renewed debate over the safety of autonomous functions in consumer vehicles.
News of the fatal crash surfaced on Tuesday, accompanied by photos of the burned-out vehicle. Police have opened an investigation, and Xiaomi says it is fully cooperating with authorities.
According to Xiaomi’s official account on Chinese social media, the SU7 was traveling around 70 miles per hour on the expressway before the collision. Part of the road was under repair, so traffic had been diverted into a different lane.
The company mentioned that seconds before hitting a roadblock, the car gave the driver a warning about upcoming obstacles and began to decelerate.
However, it was not able to avoid the collision, and the crash sparked a fire that claimed the lives of three students. Xiaomi says it alerted the police and emergency services right away, though it has not released more technical data about the vehicle’s autonomous features.
This tragedy happened roughly a year after Xiaomi, best known for its smartphones and home appliances, entered the electric vehicle business with the SU7 model. In that period, the SU7 has been a major success story in China’s competitive electric car market, with over 200,000 units sold in its first year.
Xiaomi’s stock price in Hong Kong has slumped by almost 9 percent this week. The firm had recently raised about $5.5 billion by selling new shares to finance an expansion of its electric vehicle division. However, ongoing investor anxiety has caused the shares to slide.
On Wednesday, Xiaomi’s stock sank 4.2 percent to its lowest point since the middle of February. The stock also finished in negative territory for the fifth session in a row, putting it more than 20 percent below a high point reached last month.
The recent crash has reignited questions about the safety of advanced driving features in mass-market electric vehicles. China has encouraged the growth of these technologies, hoping to take a leading position in the global race to develop driverless cars and assisted-driving systems.
As a result, many Chinese electric carmakers tout lane-changing, highway navigation, and obstacle avoidance as selling points. When lethal accidents happen, information is sometimes hard to find on Chinese platforms, prompting concerns about transparency.
On Xiaomi’s official website, the company describes its Navigate On Autopilot system as being able to accelerate or brake automatically, move between lanes, enter or exit highways, and steer around construction. Yet it also emphasizes that these “intelligent assisted driving” technologies do not replace the driver’s responsibility. There is no mention of the vehicle having laser-based lidar sensors, which are often used by other automakers for improved obstacle detection.
Chinese media outlets have quoted Wang Yinglai, an automobile expert at the Zhejiang Consumer Council, who explained that without lidar, a car traveling at high speed might have more trouble spotting stationary or slow objects on the road. That could be especially critical on highways, where obstacles might appear with little notice, and drivers have less time to act.
A mother of one of the students who died in Saturday’s crash posted on Weibo, a Chinese social media platform, under the surname Wang. She said her home had “collapsed” since the death of her daughter, and she criticized Xiaomi for not reaching out to the family in the days that followed. A father of another victim spoke to China’s Southern Metropolis Daily, saying that his daughter and her classmate were burned to death. He, too, said the company had not contacted him directly.
Xiaomi’s founder says the company will not evade responsibility
Later on Tuesday, Xiaomi stated that it had made attempts, with the guidance of the police, to communicate with the families. However, the company said it had yet to receive a response.
Lei Jun, Xiaomi’s founder and chief executive, posted on social media to express his condolences. He thanked the public for its attention and said there were many questions Xiaomi could not answer right away, given the ongoing investigation. Lei also pledged that the company would not evade any responsibility that might come from the findings.
Concerns over the crash have weighed on more than just Xiaomi’s shares. Other Hong Kong–listed automakers known for advanced driving features, including BYD and XPeng, also saw their stock prices decline.
Analysts have said that investors will likely stay cautious until the official investigation determines whether any technical or mechanical failures contributed to the accident. Li Weiqing, a fund manager at JH Investment Management, told local media that if the crash is found to be partially Xiaomi’s fault, it could be a blow to the automaker’s near-term prospects, and the company would have to undergo a thorough review of its technology.
Meanwhile, investors have been trading a large number of Xiaomi stock options, reflecting uncertainty around the company. More than 175,000 contracts changed hands on Wednesday, which is twice the usual 20-day average. Among the most popular trades were put options that expire in June, which signal concern that Xiaomi’s share price could drop further if the investigation yields negative conclusions.
Before the accident, Xiaomi’s success in the electric car segment was seen as a sign of how quickly consumer-tech giants can pivot to automotive manufacturing in China. Industry watchers pointed to the SU7’s design—which some say echoes the Porsche Taycan’s sleek look—and its more affordable price tag as reasons for its popularity.
Now, the tragedy has brought fresh scrutiny to the entire category of assisted driving, which includes lane-centering and other smart features that promise safer and more convenient journeys but are not intended to replace a driver’s hands-on control.
Despite the crash, no official announcement has emerged about changes to Xiaomi’s production schedule or sales strategy, and the firm has not detailed whether it plans to introduce additional safety measures or hardware for future models.
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