Nio tumbles 7% on reports of a fatal accident involving one of its self-driving SUVs
- Electric-vehicle maker Nio tumbled as much as 7% on Monday on news that its autopilot system was involved in a fatal crash in China.
- A Chinese businessman named Lin Wenqin reportedly died last week while driving a Nio SUV called the ES8 after activating the autopilot system.
- The ES8 is equipped with several autonomous driving features, some of which are powered by tech from Intel and Nvidia.
Electric vehicle maker Nio tumbled as much as 7% on Monday on news that its autopilot system was involved in a fatal crash in China.
The stock fell as low as $38.07 from Friday's closing price of $41.03.
A Chinese businessman named Lin Wenqin reportedly died last week on Thursday while driving a Nio SUV called the ES8. Lin, who had activated the car's autonomous autopilot system, was killed when the car rear-ended another vehicle, according to a report by China Daily.
The ES8 is equipped with several autonomous driving features, some of which are powered by tech from Intel and Nvidia. Intel was flat on the news, though Nvidia dipped almost 3% amid a broader market decline.
The full circumstances of the crash weren't immediately clear. Nio says it is cooperating with an investigation into the death.
Many so-called autonomous vehicles still require driver attention when in self-driving mode, a fact underscored by a federal probe into Tesla unveiled on Monday. The investigation, by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, will look into 11 reported crashes involving Tesla's autopilot features.
Prior to Monday's drop, Nio shares have fallen 23% percent so far in 2021 amid the global chip shortage.
Nio was trading at $38.44 as of 12:15 p.m. ET, down 6.3% on the day.
