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A Scottish man felt like he was being ‘kidnapped’ when his electric car (EV) appeared to develop a mind of its own this weekend.
Brian Morrison, 53, was on his way home from work when his £30,000 MG ZS suffered a ‘catastrophic failure’ on the A803 towards Kirkintilloch, near Glasgow.
He was terrified then the brake pedals stopped working and the car – which was designed and built in China – started to drive itself at a speed of 48 km/h.
Because he has mobility problems, Mr Morrison was unable to jump out of the car, which only came to a stop after it deliberately crashed into a police van.
Fortunately, no one was injured, but the incident has raised questions about whether the same problem could affect other EV users.
Professor Roberto Metere, a computer scientist and safety lecturer at the University of York, told MailOnline: ‘It is a rare but potential hazard that could very well happen to other drivers.’
Brian Morrison, 53, was on his way home from work when his £30,000 MG ZS suffered a ‘catastrophic failure’ on the A803 towards Kirkintilloch, near Glasgow
While it’s difficult to say exactly what caused the problem, it could have been a problem with the ‘data bus’, the EV’s communications system that transfers data within a computer, or even a remote security attack.
“My best guess is that the car experienced an incorrect synchronization in the communications between the main software system and the sensors,” Professor Metere said.
‘This may be because the bus communication system is not functioning properly or is ‘overloaded’.
“The car could not stop because such an error did not allow other commands to be sent to the main system, which could not process them.”
Unlike conventional gasoline cars that use friction brakes, electric cars use a system called “regenerative braking” that involves the car’s computer.
“In general, electric cars should be as safe as diesel or petrol cars in terms of their braking systems,” Amin Al-Habaibeh, professor of intelligent engineering systems at Nottingham Trent University, told MailOnline.
‘Electric cars have a regenerative braking system to slow the car down by absorbing the car’s kinetic energy to charge the car’s battery; this can provide significant energy savings and make the car more efficient.”
Tom Stacey, a car expert at Anglia Ruskin University, pointed out that all types of cars can have brake failure, but this is rare.
‘Research has shown that electric vehicles are more likely to pass an MOT, including brake checks, than combustion engine cars,’ he told MailOnline.
‘Under the law, all EVs will have a handbrake that is separate from the main braking system.’
It is unclear whether Mr Morrison had this option.
Describing how the incident started, the driver said: ‘I realized something was wrong as I approached a roundabout and wanted to slow down but I couldn’t’
Gunwant Dhadyalla is director of Automotive Electronic Systems Innovation Network, an industry organization that focuses on electronics in the automotive industry.
Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, he said electronic systems in cars are ‘very complex’ and that, despite ‘huge’ amounts of testing, errors can rarely slip through the cracks.
“Today you can find up to 100 million lines of software code that control these vehicles, so the possibility of a bug like this escaping is possible if your test systems aren’t really state-of-the-art,” he said.
“What often happens when you test systems is that you write specifications about how you want things to work, and test against those specifications.”
Mr Dhadyalla added that “complex interactions” – two or three things happening at the same time that are not anticipated – can cause the vehicle’s software to “misbehave”.
But ultimately, it can be difficult to reproduce the exact conditions that caused the problem in the first place.
“Those complex interactions are very difficult to create and then recreate to find the errors,” he said.
“It’s something that doesn’t necessarily only apply to electric vehicles.”
The MG ZS is produced by the Chinese car manufacturer SAIC Motor, but appears under the British brand MG
He added: ‘It’s something the electric car industry needs to be aware of, due to the extra use of electronics and the higher voltage systems causing new types of faults.’
The MG ZS is produced by the Chinese car manufacturer SAIC Motor, but appears under the British brand MG.
MG Motor UK has acknowledged the incident and will investigate the cause of the EV’s serious failure.
In a statement, MG Motor UK said: ‘We have made urgent efforts to contact Mr Morrison so that his vehicle can be fully inspected by our technical team.
‘We take this matter very seriously and now that contact has been made, we will do everything we can to resolve matters quickly and effectively for him.’