A daring advertisement video for BMW’s self-driving car, Vision iNext, has vanished from the sub-brand BMWi’s Twitter page, where it was initially uploaded, according to several reports. The racy clip, which can still be found online thanks to the golden rule of the Internet that says nothing can be deleted from it, tells the story of a couple of in-love hipsters and their BMW.
The ad, promising “New Moments of Joy” with the autonomous vehicle, shows the two, named Eve and Leo, seeing each other at a coffee shop and having fun on a beach, in a club, as well as in BMW’s self-driving car.
Although some earlier reports still have a link to the post featuring this perk of next-generation cars, its absence in the BMWi feed has raised questions online.
Some jokingly referred to the mysterious disappearance in the comments for other clips on BMWi’s page.
In turn, the online outlet Futurism has drafted several possible reasons why the video was taken down. It suggests that the clip could be questionable from a safety point of view, as the video might encourage some to drive without a seatbelt, even though it has notifications that it is “a demonstration only” and that “BMW does not offer self-driving cars” (for example, the production of Vision iNext is expected to start by 2021). However, according to the outlet, the raciness of the promo could also have done more harm than good to BMW, as the topic of sex in self-driving cars is by no means new, but still controversial.
Tesla and its founder Elon Musk earlier came under scrutiny after a video went viral showing porn star Taylor Jackson and her boyfriend having sex in a Tesla set on “Autopilot” for about 10 minutes.
After the video emerged, Musk admitted on Twitter: “Turns out there’s more ways to use Autopilot than we imagined. Shoulda seen it coming …”