On Wednesday afternoon, NIO was testing one of their ET5 models when it flew out of the three story window of a Shanghai skyscraper, killing two test drivers.
The car fell into the parking lot of the building, which is adjacent to NIO’s Shanghai Innovation Port building.
NIO said the employees who died were “digital cabin testers” and has reportedly launched an investigation into the accident and claims they are complying with a government investigation as well.
The company has received backlash after they claimed the crash was not caused by the car.
“Our company has collaborated with the public security department to launch the investigation and analysis of the cause of the accident. Based on the analysis of the situation at the scene, we can initially confirm that this was an accident not caused by the vehicle,” the company said in a statement.
“We feel very sad about this accident and would like to express our deepest condolences to our colleague and partner employee who lost their lives. A team has been set up to help the families.”
The company’s statement on the Chinese social media site Weibo gained 78 million views and more than 1,700 discussion posts. Many users criticized the company for not taking responsibility for the crash. One user on the platform said the company showed the “cold blood of capitalism.”
According to the Daily Mail, an employee for NIO said, “It’s not a braking problem, [the driver] had hoped to put it in reverse gear, but instead put it in forward gear.”
Authorities rushed to the scene of the accident hoping to save the two drivers from the crash but were unsuccessful.