Chapter 69.1

After a string of accidents, experiencing severe drops in sales and a wave of negative reviews, the Bolton Company finally came out to handle the situation.

—The top management of the company decided to immediately recall all the problematic smart AI cars, promising compensation to the consumers.

However the damage had already been done.

Because despite all this, a lot of customers still remained unconvinced and with that, the Bolton Company was without a doubt, feeling a little overwhelmed.

And as they scrambled to manage their public relations, a video related to the Li Group’s second generation smart AI car went viral online.

The man in the video was a loyal user of the Li Group’s cars.

As soon as the second generation smart AI cars were released, he bought one and had been driving it for almost half a month.

What’s more he had entered his and his family’s voices into the voice recognition system, making it convenient to open doors, the trunk and other areas.

—And it was a good thing he had entered his family’s voices.

He had a child who was about five to six years old.

On the day of the incident, his younger brother had wanted to give the car a spin and took the owner of the car’s child and his girlfriend out for a drive.

When they returned, the child was asleep in the back seat and the owner of the car’s brother had just gotten out of the car when he was asked by the owner of the car to move some stuff, so he left, thinking that his girlfriend would carry the child out of the car.

But little did he know that his girlfriend also thought that he would come back after he was done to take the child out and so not caring, went upstairs to play with her phone.

It was after the two of them were done and started talking that they realized that no one had taken the child out of the car.

Feeling a rush of panic, the owner of the car remembered news reports about children dying in cars and almost collapsed from fright.

However when he ran to the car in a panic and saw the scene before him, he dropped to his knees.

—The door of the car was ajar with a small slit that was letting fresh air in.

And his child was sprawled on the back seat, watching cartoons on a phone, looking rather comfortable.

When he saw his dad kneeling, the child, confused, crawled up and asked, “Daddy, what’s wrong with you?”

“You, you….. the car door…..” The owner of the car stammered.

The child opened his mouth, “I woke up because it was so stuffy in the car, so I opened the door. Daddy, didn’t you teach me how to use the voice command to open the door?”

Hearing these words, the owner of the car suddenly cried out, tears streaming down his cheeks, incredibly grateful for the decision he had made at that time.

This incident was reported on the local news and had been forwarded countless times since.

The owner of the car also posted on Weibo, expressing that he was immensely grateful to the Li Group’s second generation smart AI car for its life-saving feature.

At the end of his post, he wrote, [Actually when I’d just bought this car, I didn’t really care much about the voice password lock feature, but now I realize I was wrong.]

[Every R&D by the Li Group Corporation has its significance. The voice password lock, as explained during the product launch, mainly exists for the convenience of family members.]

[There were even people who said that this feature was unnecessary, superfluous and even redundant and that it should be removed, but what if you need it and it isn’t there?]

Other netizens also left comments agreeing with his words.

[Well said. It’s better to be prepared than unprepared and it’s better to have this feature than not. Don’t make it so that you’ll regret it only when something happens.]

[I still remember that when the launch ended, many netizens didn’t think highly of the Li Group’s second generation smart AI cars, saying it duplicated the features of the Bolton Company’s cars.]

[‘The Bolton Company is a well established brand, how could the Li Group possibly compare?’]

[Now you’ve seen it right? Exactly whose car is actually better and who is more responsible towards its customers?]

[It’s clearly the Bolton Company that imitated, no, I should say copied President Li’s research.]

[In order to launch before the Li Group’s second generation smart AI cars, they didn’t even perfect their AI system. The result? Being ridiculed by the entire internet. Serves them right.]

[The Bolton Company’s first mistake was that they didn’t resolve the issue with the voice password lock feature actively when it appeared, even pretending to have not seen it when it came up in the beginning.]

[Second was that specious post, showing netizens the way an old car company handles its issues. Actually so irresponsible, is it that everyone in their upper management have water in their heads?]

[Third is that even their crucial emergency alarm system failed at the critical moment and from this it’s clear to see whether they gave their all in the research and development stage and whether they ran multiple tests….]

[As the saying goes, don’t undertake a task if you don’t have the skills. If the Bolton Company’s research level in AI technology isn’t up to par, they shouldn’t have rushed to launch. Otherwise the ones to suffer will be the users.]

[But how can you be sure that the Li Group Corporation’s second generation smart AI cars won’t malfunction? What if their emergency alarm system fails during an accident?!]

Some netizens indeed had these doubts as well.

However just then, the Li Group Corporation’s official account suddenly posted a video.

—The video was about the testing of the emergency alarm system.

Several people dressed in police uniforms were at the scene, mobilized by the police department for cooperation.

And the cars used in the test were all newly released second generation smart AI cars from the Li Group, totalling over ten cars.

These smart AI cars were specially programmed to start, move forward or remain stationary and then subjected to a variety potential accidents…..

And then the final test results came out.

After each accident, the car’s smart AI system would immediately scan the driver’s condition then send the location to the control center immediately, requesting aid. And there wasn’t a single error.

The Li Group Corporation’s official post was later shared by the Yanjing Police Department’s official account, with a caption that read— [We hope this feature will never have to be used.]

Their hearts that had been hanging settling back down, netizens flooded the comments section with praise.

……