Chapter 68.2
There was also another netizen who said that after his new car started having issues, he drove it back to the dealership to complain, only to be told that they were minor glitches that were expected to occur.
And that since the car was still under warranty, they would replace the car parts for free.
Because of the timely apology, the owner of the car, not being someone who was particularly obstinate, agreed to this solution.
However just two days after the parts were replaced, the car started having issues again, failing to start through voice command.
The owner of the car had forgotten to take his car keys along when he had been leaving in a hurry and ended up having to wait for over five hours on an unfamiliar, remote road.
And on top of everything, he had to pay for a tow truck.
Following this incident, the owner immediately went back to the dealership for an explanation.
However the sales staff started to ask him whether he had driven the car properly and whether he had used the voice activation function, implying that it wasn’t their fault.
The owner was so angry that he immediately started to curse: “I’ve been driving for how many years now! Would I not know how to drive?! That I would need you guys to question me here?!”
“It’s not as if I haven’t bought smart AI cars before!”
“I even have the first generation smart AI car from the Li Group Corporation sitting in my garage right now, so why is it that only the Bolton Company’s car is malfunctioning?!”
In the end, the car owner said: “I should have waited patiently for the Li Group’s second generation smart AI car. That would have saved me all this trouble…..”
This video was filmed secretly by a bystander and went viral instantly the moment it was posted online.
Netizens immediately started tagging the official account of the Bolton Company’s authorized dealership in C Country, demanding that their local executives come out and resolve the issue.
Soon after, the Bolton Company’s official account posted a somewhat ambiguous message.
The general gist was— they admitted that it was their mistake that the smart AI cars had issues and promised to rectify them moving forward.
However for the current issues, customers should turn to their repair services, as they had promised to protect customers’ rights and offered a warranty of up to three years and so were fully capable of addressing any issues that customers may face….
In short, if customers purchased a smart AI car from a specific dealership, they should go to that same place for any warranty and repair issues.
This attitude naturally provoked the anger of some netizens.
But it was difficult to advocate for rights, so even their online condemnation didn’t seem to have much effect.
However just then, a Bolton Company car was really involved in a situation— a traffic accident.
The accident happened on a mountain road, where the driver was driving normally.
However just after turning a bend, a large truck carrying goods came straight at him.
It was unknown if it was because of the surface of the road being slippery after the rain, but the truck had originally been driving fine.
But at the very moment, just as they were about to pass each other, the truck swerved, hitting the small car and pinning it against the mountain wall, damaging the car severely.
From the dashcam footage, one could hear the driver’s panicked screams as the truck swerved towards him, followed by a loud ‘bang’ sound….
Later, a reporter went to the hospital to interview the owner of the car who was lucky to have survived.
Lying on the hospital bed, the owner said weakly: “The truck did stop after hitting me.”
“At that time, I was trapped between the door and the seat. Even the steering wheel and other stuff in front were all deformed and I couldn’t move.”
“But it seems like the truck driver was afraid of taking responsibility, because not long after I heard him drive off…..”
“My consciousness was a little blurry at the time. I couldn’t move and there were no other cars passing by.”
“Because it was getting dark, I tried hard to raise my hand to press the emergency rescue button…..”
In addition to the AI system that monitored the driver’s physical condition and scanned the body in Bolton Company’s smart AI cars,
There was also an emergency button installed next to the central control screen that could send the car’s location to the command center.
The owner continued, “I pressed it, I even pressed it twice, but there was no response.”
—The touch screen panel was obviously still lit, but there was no response at all.
What’s more, this emergency alert system was designed to send the car’s location immediately in case of an accident to save time for rescue.
Hence it should have been tested under various accident scenarios during the manufacturing stage.
So that regardless of whether the touch screen panel was damaged or not, it wouldn’t affect the activation of the emergency alert system…..
But the emergency alert system of the Bolton Company’s smart AI car really failed, with no response from the smart AI that was supposed to scan the driver’s condition or send the location actively.
If it wasn’t because the owner’s family was worried and used the location on his phone to find him, the situation would have been much worse.
It went without saying how serious this issue was, that it even made it to the social news.
Relevant national stations also reported specifically on this, pointing out the serious hidden dangers in the Bolton Company’s newly launched smart AI cars.
After this report, the sales of the Bolton Company’s cars started to plummet sharply, and the online ratings were extremely low, almost overwhelmingly negative.
And the post that the Bolton Company had posted on their official account was being criticized heavily and overwhelmed by negative comments.
[If the Bolton Company doesn’t take action, they’ll lose not just their loyal customers, but also the reputation they built as a veteran car company!]
[Pei! I won’t buy the Bolton Company’s cars anymore. Isn’t the Li Group’s smart AI car fragrant? I apologize for my previous ignorance! I’m going to buy a car from the Li Group right now!]
[I’m enlightened. Is this the way a veteran car company handles things?! Manual rescue is faster than a smart AI, what kind of smart AI car is this?!]
[I think the Bolton Company should continue selling regular cars. Just in order to compete with the Li Group, they rushed, disregarding the quality.]
These were just a few of the many comments like these.
Surprisingly, the Li Group’s second generation smart AI car emerged from this controversy.
With some netizens feeling that the smart system developed by the Bolton Company couldn’t compare to the one in the Li Group’s cars.
However more netizens had doubts.
—Would the new second generation smart AI cars from the Li Group have the same problems as the Bolton Company’s smart AI cars? Such as the voice password lock malfunctioning and the emergency alert system failing at the crucial moment…..
Making it so that for a while, netizens who originally planned to buy the second generation smart AI car from the Li Group hesitated after seeing these doubts.
However the situation quickly took a turn.
Before the Li Group Corporation could respond to the public relations crisis, a related video went viral.
This time, the protagonist in the video was the Li Group’s newly released second generation smart AI car.
Li Qingzhou, in his office, couldn’t help but blink in surprise when he saw this— this was….. really a coincidence.
It was as if before the situation had completely become a ‘drought’, it suddenly ran into a ‘good rain’.
Read without ads and unlock a total of up to 110 advanced chapters with coins or Patreon.
Please kindly turn off the adblock, thank you.
I’m surprised that the Bolton car company responded as such, considering they’re new to the AI car industry. If anything, they should have at least expressed their concerns and apologies for the malfunctions and ensured their customers that they would be resolved as soon as possible.
I’m guessing the new video is also someone who got into an accident, but the person is probably unconscious and their built-in camera shows the AI car calling for help and reporting their location to the rescue authorities. At least, I’m looking forward to a development similar to that, lol.
Thanks for the chapter! 😀
Thanks for the chapter!
Thanks for the update. ❤