A terrified driver said that his electric car had a mind of its own and would not brake, turn off, or allow him to change gears, resulting in a self-inflicted crash to finally stop the car.
Brian Morrison said he was driving his MG ZS electric SUV between 10 and 11 p.m. when the car suddenly took control of itself, driving 30 miles per hour. The car is manufactured by SAIC Motor, a Chinese state-owned car company out of Shanghai.
Morrison explained that he attempted to slow down while approaching a roundabout when the car suddenly stopped responding.
“I was coming up to a roundabout and I went to slow down and brake and there was no brakes,” the man explained from his driver seat. “I then quickly went to switch on to the park button and the stop button here beside me, and unfortunately that didn’t work. All of a sudden I had about nine different things come up on the dashboard here telling me … and then a warning to stop the car and drive safely,” he continued.
The man said he quickly phoned his partner, driving up ahead, who then turned back in his direction. The other driver stopped traffic at nearby intersections to warn other motorists that the runaway Chinese vehicle was coming their way.
Miraculously, this cleared a path for Morrison, who was only able to steer, as he avoided collisions and continued on his James Bond-like driving sequence.
About 10-15 minutes after calling police, Morrison said that authorities rolled up beside him and advised him to throw his remote key fob out of the window.
“The police sergeant then came up beside me and he said to me ‘please throw your car key out the window into the police van.’ The idea there was that when he got so far away from my car that the engine should have cut out, because there was no car around,” Morrison described.
“Of course the car had malfunction, so that didn’t work either,” he explained. Police then instructed Morrison to crash into the back of a police van to finally bring the car to a stop.
Speaking to a reporter, Morrison said that he was still nervous about sitting in the car as he detailed the story.
“I’ve got mobility problems, so I need a car to get around, but it definitely won’t be this car.”
The MG ZS EV does have a model that comes with autonomous driving capabilities, but Morrison’s version did not appear to have such a feature.
Morrison mentioned that when he called for help, the operator connected him to engineers who asked if it was a self-driving car.
“It was the first time that the call handlers had experienced the issue, and they had no idea what to do,” he told the Daily Mail.
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