Mar 14, 2026 08:00:00

A Chinese-made EV crashes after its lights go out due to a voice assistant malfunction

In recent years, cars that support 'voice commands' have appeared, allowing drivers to turn on the air conditioner or play music by voice. However, this system has backfired, and an accident occurred in China where a driver accidentally turned off the headlights using a voice command.

Thinking about the light of the light?

https://www.yicai.com/news/103062866.html

A voice command glitch is plunging Chinese EVs into darkness - CnEVPost
https://cnevpost.com/2026/02/27/voice-command-glitch-plunging-evs-into-darkness/

A Software Glitched Turned Off The Lights, Then The Car Crashed
https://insideevs.com/news/788549/lynk-co-voice-command-headlights/

A driver of a Z20 , a model made by Chinese car manufacturer Lynk & Co, reportedly issued a voice command to turn off the interior lights while driving, but the voice assistant apparently interpreted this as a command to 'turn off all the lights in the car,' and literally turned off all the lights, including the headlights.

The driver tried to turn the headlights back on using a voice command, but the voice assistant replied, 'That operation cannot be performed yet.' As a result, the driver crashed into the median due to poor visibility.

Click on the image below to see footage of the accident.

Lynk & Co responded quickly to this incident. Mu Jun, the company's vice president of sales,

posted on Weibo that they had 'implemented an update' to prevent headlights from being inappropriately disabled when using voice commands. From now on, headlights can only be turned off manually while driving.

According to automotive media outlet CNEVPost, this issue may not be limited to Lynk & Co. Owners of other brands, such as Zeekr and Deepal, have tested the device and found that while a direct command like 'turn off the headlights' is blocked, a broad, vague command like 'turn off all lights' can bypass safety restrictions and turn off the headlights while driving.

Both Zeekr and Deepal said they have addressed the vulnerability through updates, preventing headlights from being turned off via voice command while driving. Additionally, Zeekr said it has begun a systematic review of safety-related features across all models to eliminate any potential hazards.