At 22:44 on March 29, 2025, on the De Shang Highway in Anhui Province, a Xiaomi (CEO Lei Jun) SU7 Standard Edition equipped with NOA (Pilot Assisted Driving) was driving at a high speed of 116km/h when it was suddenly rerouted to the reverse lane by construction. The system issued a warning and initiated deceleration 2 seconds before the collision, and the driver took over in an emergency and crashed into the cement pile of the isolation zone at 97km/h within 1 second, and the vehicle burst into flames, killing the three female college students.

This accident is the first time a SU7 sedan has been involved in a major accident. Xiaomi launched the sedan in March 2024, and since December its monthly sales have surpassed Tesla’s Model 3.

The accident centers on the core controversies:

1.The “nighttime blind spot” of the sensing system: the standard version adopts a purely visual solution, not equipped with LiDAR, and the interference of reflective warning lights on the construction road at night caused the system to misjudge the obstacle as a “detourable vehicle”. Xiaomi’s official data show that 5 seconds before the collision, the brake pedal opening degree reached 38%, proving that the system is not completely ineffective.

2.the escape mechanism of “life and death game”: the family accused of “car door power failure lock”, while Xiaomi emphasized “equipped with mechanical emergency pull handle”. The wreckage of the accident shows that the front compartment of the car body is seriously deformed, resulting in insufficient space for the operation of the mechanical puller, exposing the shortcomings of the safety redundancy in extreme scenarios.  

3. Battery safety “extreme challenge”: Ningde Times lithium iron phosphate battery burst into flames under the 97km/h impact, although not spontaneous combustion, but the inverted core design makes the pressure relief valve facing downward, the flames rushed straight to the passenger compartment, and the fire got out of control within 30 seconds.  

Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun response

The evening of April 1, for “3.29 Xiaomi SU7 high-speed collision deflagration” event, Xiaomi technology limited liability company founder, chairman, CEO Lei Jun in the microblogging first voice, the three young girls who died in the accident to express condolences, condolences to their families, and disclosed the accident investigation and current progress: “Our team set up a special group at the first time, rushed to the scene on the 30th, and cooperated with the police on the 31st to retrieve and submit the vehicle data we have.

As the accident is still under investigation, we have not been able to access the accident car, many questions at this moment there is no way to answer.” And in the statement said, “At this moment, I feel that I can not wait any longer, I must come forward on behalf of Xiaomi commitment: no matter what happens, Xiaomi will not escape.”

Xiaomi’s share price fell  Lei Jun’s wealth shrinks

Xiaomi is undoubtedly the brightest performing stock in the last two years, and the stock price has nearly quadrupled from the bottom of 2022 to the highest point, according to Xiaomi’s strongest financial report ever, 2024, Xiaomi Group’s full-year revenue of 365.9 billion yuan, an increase of 35.0% year-on-year; the adjusted net profit of 27.2 billion yuan, an increase of 41.3% year-on-year. Revenues and net profit are at record highs, and the performance is very strong.

However, because of the accident, Xiaomi shares fell from the historical high of 59.45 Hong Kong dollars on March 19 to 44.55 Hong Kong dollars (April 2 at 16:00), a drop of 25.06%, the market value of two days cumulative decline of nearly 10%, 120 billion Hong Kong dollars (about 15.3 billion U.S. dollars).

March 25, Xiaomi announced the proposed placing of 800 million shares in the form of the old and then the new, at that time, Lei Jun holds Xiaomi group 24.1% of the shares and other shareholders owned 75.9% of the shares of Xiaomi Group. After the completion of the said placement by Xiaomi Group, Lei Jun’s shareholding is 23.4%, the placees’ shareholding is 3.1% and other shareholders’ shareholding is 73.6%. If calculated in accordance with the 23.4% shareholding ratio, just these two trading days Lei Jun’s value has shrunk by about 28 billion yuan.