When “Intelligent” Cars Go Dumb — China’s EV Boom Turns Into a Dangerous Joke

In recent years, Chinese electric vehicles have been hailed as symbols of the smart mobility future. From self-parking and touchless doors to fully autonomous driving, these cars promise efficiency and futuristic comfort. Yet real-world experience tells a very different story. Behind the glossy advertisements lie countless technical glitches, unfortunate accidents, and absurd moments that reveal a sobering truth. China's EV technology still has a long way to go before it can truly be called safe or complete. When the door of the future refuses to open. One of the most talked about innovations today is the keyless or touchless door unlocking system, something that sounds straight out of a sci-fi movie. Tesla pioneered this feature with the Model S back in 2012, but Chinese automakers quickly caught up. NIO introduced gesture-based unlocking on its ES8 in 2018. XPeng followed with touch-sensitive doors on the P7 in 2020, and Huawei joined the race with a touchless door system on the M9, helping to popularize this futuristic technology. But how do these systems perform in reality? On social media, it's not uncommon to see owners waving their hands, kicking their legs, or making gestures in the rain while the doors remain stubbornly locked. In the end, they often have to resort to pulling the mechanical handle if the car still has one. For models with hidden handles, opening the door in an emergency can become extremely difficult. In April 2025, three university students died in a Xiaomi SU7 while using its assisted driving mode. After the crash, the vehicle's doors jammed, preventing rescuers from reaching them in time. The tragedy sparked outrage, raising a painful question. Are these dazzling features worth it if they come at the cost of human lives? Traffic safety experts stress that a reliable mechanical release mechanism remains essential. Yet many carmakers are too busy chasing the image of a smart car of the future, forgetting that smart should never come at the expense of safe, self-driving, or self-destructive. If there's one field where China has placed its highest hopes, it's autonomous driving. Over the past decade, the technology has advanced rapidly, especially after Tesla's breakthrough since 2014. Leading the race in China are NIO, Xpeng, and Huawei companies that are continuously pushing boundaries and attracting global attention. NIO was among the first to integrate advanced driver assistance systems, ADAS, pioneering the use of LiDAR and 5G technologies since 2018. LiDAR employs laser beams to detect obstacles and map the surrounding environment. Not to be outdone, Xpeng launched its navigation on autopilot, no, system in 2023, enabling cars to drive autonomously on highways, change lanes, and navigate exit ramps. Meanwhile, Huawei took a different approach, bringing autonomous driving technology to the mass market. With its ADS, autonomous driving system, Huawei introduced smart driving capabilities even to models priced under $10,000. These systems promised intelligent, efficient driving, and the ability to handle complex traffic conditions. However, real-world results tell a less optimistic story. Despite the ambitious promises, these technologies continue to show serious limitations, exposing the gap between China's vision of the smart car revolution and the reality faced by its drivers every day. In September 2025, a Huawei Ato M9 worth 620,000 yuan was involved in a serious accident. According to the owner, the vehicle's radar system failed to detect the bus ahead, the car neither slowed down nor issued any warning. Even worse, the airbags didn't deploy. When questioned, the manufacturer simply stated that traffic conditions were complex without providing any clear explanation. The owner expressed frustration. When they launched this car, they promoted its autonomous driving system as advanced and intelligent. I never imagined that the same technology would make me suffer the consequences of its own failure. A series of similar incidents were reported during the same summer. One driver, relying on autopilot, became distracted only to have his car crash straight into the median barrier. Another vehicle, traveling at 100 km per hour, failed to detect the car in front and slammed into it from behind. Earlier, in May 2025, another female driver recounted a comparable experience. I had only owned the car for about 4 months. While driving on the highway, I activated the self-driving mode. At a Y-shaped intersection, the system malfunctioned and lost control, causing the car to crash directly into the guardrail. The speed was high and on such a curve. It couldn't turn, it just went straight and hit hard. These accidents reveal an uncomfortable truth the Chinese EV industry prefers to ignore. Autonomous driving technology is still experimental and far from ready for real-world complexity. An article by RoboSense explained that technical flaws in LiDAR sensors, the core component of these systems, are the direct cause of many failures. Common issues include Ghost reflections and glare from highly reflective surfaces such as traffic signs, which create false images or distort object size. Data distortion or loss at close range, preventing the vehicle from detecting nearby obstacles or vehicles in time. Failure to recognize small or low objects, such as a tire on the road, potentially triggering sudden emergency braking. Interference from direct sunlight, creating random noise points and misleading the LiDAR signal readings. When the car's eyes see incorrectly, the AI brain behind it cannot compensate. And the driver believing technology would protect them becomes the victim of misplaced trust in it. Self-parking, but it took 64 tries. While autonomous driving grabs most of the spotlight, automated parking has quietly become another major selling point. Since 2018, Chinese automakers have been following Tesla's lead by equipping cars with self-parking features. SAIC was the first to introduce the technology on its ROEY MARVEL X, and by 2025, more than half of new EVs in China were capable of hands-free parking. Chinese EV brands promised effortless parking cars that could automatically locate a space, maneuver into tight spots with 99% accuracy, and relieve drivers of stress entirely. They even pledged OTA, over-the-air, upgrades, claiming that by 2021, vehicles could park themselves without human input and even connect to intelligent shared parking networks. But reality turned out to be far more comical. One Huawei AITO EV owner recorded his car taking 64 attempts just to park in the same familiar space. With bitter sarcasm, he remarked, This is Huawei's biggest failure. Every day I have to practice parking like I'm training a robot. If you didn't see it yourself, you'd think it was a joke. The story didn't end there. Another awkward incident occurred when an AITO M9 was left to park itself without supervision. The vehicle stopped in the middle of the road. The owner confidently walked away, and the car just stayed there. Onlookers commented, Look, the owner's gone, but the car's still brand new. Nice color, but it didn't even park in the right spot. It's blocking traffic. No license plate, no phone number, nothing. And when the car encounters a tricky parking space, it tries a few times, gives up, and freezes right in the middle of the street, blocking everyone else. This is the same product Huawei once proudly called the pinnacle of autonomous parking technology, powered by LiDAR sensors and 5G connectivity, promising perfect parking without human intervention. Instead, it delivered chaos on city streets. When the car gives up on its own, one can't help but ask, Are we really entering the age of automation, or just living inside its beta version? When the face isn't smart enough. Alongside touchless door systems, facial recognition unlocking has become another hot selling feature in Chinese EVs. BYD, NIO, Xpeng, and Huawei all integrated this technology as a mark of luxury. Cars could recognize the owner, automatically open doors, and adjust seats and mirrors all with a single glance. Yet, what seemed like a convenient smartphone-style feature quickly turned into frustration. A Geely Galaxy L7 owner struggled to register his face with the Flymoto system after multiple failed attempts. The weather's clear, lighting's fine, why won't it recognize me? The moment sunlight shines behind me, it loses detection again. Even after an update, it still doesn't work. Has anyone else dealt with this? What should I do? In another humorous case, a BYD owner was seen lying across the car hood just to get the facial recognition system to work. He explained, I saw a traffic control app on the car's display that wasn't installed on my phone, so I tried logging in, but the system required face verification. I stepped out to try, still couldn't get it to recognize me. As biometric technology spreads in Chinese EVs, privacy concerns are growing. In March 2025, the Cyberspace Administration of China and the Ministry of Public Security introduced new regulations, effective June 1, 2025, requiring explicit user consent before facial data can be used, under the Personal Information Protection Law. While facial recognition unlocking offers convenience, it also poses technical and privacy risks. Buyers must weigh the trade-off between innovation and intrusion. As we've seen, Chinese EV makers are racing to push the boundaries of technology from autonomous driving and automated parking to touchless entry and biometric unlocking. These innovations hold enormous promise and could redefine how humans interact with cars. Yet, many of these systems remain riddled with technical challenges and reliability issues. With all these futuristic features packed into today's electric cars, one truth remains clear. Safety and dependability must come first, whether it's ensuring that an autonomous system truly detects obstacles or that a keyless entry works when you need it most. China's EV industry may be leading in technological ambition, but the road to turning those bold promises into safe, reliable reality is still a very long one.