Chapter 837 Clash of the New Gods and the Old Gods! Trading lives for power? Caught in a media storm!

In a floor-to-ceiling window of an office on the top floor of Building 1 at Senlian Science and Technology Park, Chen Yansen held his phone, pondered for a moment, and then asked, "You mean, someone wants to wage a propaganda war?"

After entering the North American market, Orange Motors sold 30,000 Yaoguang E1 vehicles in just two months.

In the price range of $100,000 to $200,000, Orange Motors has risen to the top of the sales charts.

Sales of Porsche, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Audi, and Lexus vehicles are declining rapidly.

The market is only so big. There's Tesla ahead and Orange Motors behind. Even a rabbit will bite when cornered, let alone these North American car manufacturers. Their original businesses were either producing tanks, military trucks, and aircraft engines, or manufacturing B-24 bombers and military jeeps.

There's always someone secretly plotting something!

Regardless of whether the driver's death is related to the Yaoguang E1 or not, the death of a pure electric sports sedan that has been on the market for less than three months will negatively impact Orange Auto's sales in the second half of the year.

“Boss, I’m not sure! Based on the information we have, this person is a physical education teacher at Boyle High School in California. I checked the school’s salary standards, and given his income level, the chances of him being willing to buy Yaoguang E1 are less than 30%.”

Wang Chao thought for a moment and then said.

It's worth noting that cars priced between $100,000 and $200,000 are considered extremely high-end, even in the US, easily placing them in the top 1%.

This shows just how many competitors Orange Cars has attracted.

"I understand. Have the public relations department handle it according to normal procedures. Report back if there are any other issues."

Chen Yansen gave his instructions.

In theory, every Yaoguang E1 should be equipped with an Event Data Recorder (EDR), which is equivalent to a car's "black box".

In the event of an accident, vehicle owners can check key data such as vehicle speed, braking status, airbag status, and accelerator pedal position before and after the collision, and generate a PDF report to facilitate tracing the cause of the accident.

This type of data is also the core basis for the North American Transportation Safety Board's accident investigations and safety regulation optimization!

In addition, battery management systems, telematics processors, and on-board diagnostic systems can also serve as supporting evidence.

The United States considers geographical location and driving behavior in vehicle driving data as sensitive privacy information. When automakers transmit data back to the cloud, they must fully and clearly explain to users the type of data collected, its purpose, and the scope of subsequent use and sharing, and obtain users' active consent.

Guidance methods cannot be used; users can only voluntarily agree to the data return agreement through pop-up windows in the vehicle system, official apps, etc., and be clearly informed that the data is used for reasonable purposes such as vehicle fault diagnosis and driving service optimization.

Only in this way can the backhaul behavior be compliant!

The problem is that the car is completely burned beyond recognition, and all the important recording equipment is damaged.

Although EDR devices have a relatively robust physical structure, even if they are severely damaged by a fire, the core storage components may not completely lose the ability to read data.

However, there is a certain probability that the data cannot be recovered!

Then, there will be no way to prove it when they're dead!

Therefore, the only way to find out the truth about the accident is to place our hopes on the fact that the driver authorized the use of his driving data.

Otherwise, even after obtaining the vehicle identification number (VIN) or illegally retrieving data from before the accident, it is difficult to use it as valid evidence.

The reason is simple: it's illegal!

After hanging up the phone, Chen Yansen vaguely sensed that something was indeed strange about the matter.

This is more like an open conspiracy!

at the same time.

The Los Angeles Times gave Orange Motors its front page today, but Chen Yansen would rather not have this kind of exposure if he could.

"A Chinese electric vehicle spontaneously combusted, and an innocent father in the United States perished in the flames!"

You can tell it has a different flavor just from the title!

The deceased was named Ronald, 47 years old, from San Jose, California.

Two weeks ago, I purchased a standard version of the Yaoguang E1 and paid the full amount in one lump sum.

In addition, he bought himself a large accident insurance policy, which was purchased seven years ago.

On the surface, this appears to be a perfectly normal car accident.

In North America, inspectors and forensic experts conducted on-site investigations and recorded information such as the angle of the vehicle collision, the force of the impact, and the length of the skid marks.

If a driver intentionally crashes into another vehicle, the scene often shows no signs of emergency braking and a clear target of collision, such as a direct impact on a fixed obstacle, which is significantly different from the scene of an accident caused by a regular vehicle malfunction.

Surprisingly, no abnormalities were found at the scene of the accident.

Therefore, the inspectors began to investigate road surveillance footage, dashcam footage from nearby vehicles, and eyewitness testimonies, all of which could serve as corroborating evidence.

It can also reconstruct the driver's driving trajectory and operating status before the crash. If the driver exhibits abnormal driving behavior, such as suddenly changing lanes and rushing towards an obstacle without any evasive action, it can all be recorded.

In addition, the investigation will also trace the driver's past behavior, such as whether he had any debt disputes, mental abnormalities, or potential conflicts with the car company before his death.

If such prior clues exist, they can further corroborate the motive of "deliberate framing" and weaken the unfavorable accusations against Orange Motors.

A few hours later, Chen Yansen received another call from Wang Chao. This time, Wang Chao's tone was noticeably more serious.

"Boss, the current investigation is very unfavorable to us. The restraint control module of the EDR device is severely damaged and has been sent to the recorder laboratory for repair by the local traffic safety association. I have also dispatched a group of engineers to assist."

Wang Chao reported slowly.

The EDR device on the Yaoguang E1 is a self-developed product of Orange Auto. Their own engineers certainly have a greater technical advantage in repair.

"Okay, I understand."

Chen Yansen responded.

The incident occurred in a blind spot, there were no other vehicles present, and there was no eyewitness evidence. However, the length of the skid marks can be used to deduce that the vehicle speed was within the safe driving range.

This accident was too perfect!

That's why he became even more suspicious.

Things that are too perfect are often the least real!

Chen Yansen sneered, picked up the tablet computer on the table, and opened the Los Angeles Times website.

The first frame of the banner features an image of the Yaoguang E1, burned to a mere skeleton, alongside a photo of Ronald and his family.

The man in the photo has a gentle smile and is holding a seven or eight-year-old child in his arms. This tenderness contrasts sharply with his tragic end of "dying in a sea of ​​fire," which would make anyone who sees it feel pity and thus feel dissatisfied with Orange Motors.

The comments section has already exploded!

"Made in China is synonymous with inferior quality!"

"They'd rather die than lose money!"

"Chinese electric vehicles should be completely banned from the North American market!"

Such comments are everywhere!

Even more extreme, some people launched a petition to boycott Orange Cars in the comments section of the White House website, and within just a few hours, the number of signatures exceeded 100,000.

Seeing this, Chen Yansen took out an encrypted phone from the drawer and dialed it. After the call was connected, he got straight to the point and ordered, "Old Bai, help me find two people, one is Ronald, and the other is the writer of this Los Angeles Times report. I need all their information, and I can't let any detail slip by."

"Yes, boss." Bai Zhenshan immediately agreed when he learned what his boss was talking about.

After explaining everything, Chen Yansen left the office and went into the room where the Moss control center was located.

"Moss, get me all the information about the driver of the Yaoguang E1 accident, including his family."

Chen Yansen stood still and shouted across the distance.

Moss did not reply immediately. Instead, following his instructions, he first browsed through the cause and effect of the Yaoguang E1 accident, then converted Ronald's photo, place of origin, occupation, age and educational background into data identifiers, and then searched through the vast sea of ​​data to find all of the other party's traces.

Half a minute later, the holographic screen in the control center suddenly lit up, and Ronald's life trajectory was clearly presented to Chen Yansen like an unfolding scroll.

The basic information was identical to what Wang Chao had previously reported, but as Moss continued to delve deeper into the data dimensions, some unusual details gradually surfaced.

Moss ruthlessly turned North Korea's computer into a botnet, then hacked into the companies that owned Ronald's bank cards, turning his bank statements upside down.

"Boss, Ronald's bank statements for the past three years show irregularities!"

Every year, an anonymous sum of $50,000 is transferred into his secret overseas account. The funds originate from a shell company in Panama, whose actual controller's information is heavily encrypted. Preliminary assessments suggest a connection to a vice president at Ford.

Moss's electronic voice was calm and even, yet carried an unquestionable tone of certainty.

The simpler the scheme, the fewer traces it leaves.

But this car accident was eerily strange, and to eliminate this information, we would need to use more manpower.

When there are many people, there are many different opinions!

Ford?

Chen Yansen smiled slightly, not at all surprised.

How could a group of car dealers who deal in arms and build tanks all be naive and innocent?

Which of these guys isn't a repeat offender?

Take Audi in the 1980s as an example. Just as it had gained a foothold in North America, it was targeted by the American Consumer Association and television stations for fabricating a story. They secretly modified the accelerator pedal of the Audi 5000 into a "runaway acceleration device" and filmed it as a news program.

As a result, Audi's sales in the United States plummeted from 74,000 units in 1985 to 12,000 units in 1991.

The "brake gate" incident was not overturned until 2014.

But anyone with common sense knows that consumer associations and television stations would never risk fabricating fake news targeting Audi just for the sake of generating buzz.

Who is behind this?

The answer isn't hard to guess!

"continue!"

Chen Yansen didn't believe that this was just the work of a vice president.

Three years ago, Tesla also faced a series of attacks, such as rumors that "Tesla batteries will break down in winter" and "the fire rate is 11 times that of traditional cars." Some media reports even directly quoted so-called "internal test data" from BMW.

In Chen Yansen's view, this is not a simple accident; it is probably another battle between gasoline-powered vehicles and new energy electric vehicles.

On the other side.

When news reports of a serious accident involving the Yaoguang E1 in North America reached China, the number of customers making appointments at offline stores that day was significantly lower.

Customers' emotions are easily swayed!

Although the various products under the Senlian Group have had good quality and after-sales service in the past, it is a fact that a user crashed his Yaoguang E1 and was engulfed in flames.

Nobody wants to risk their life on the quality of Orange Motors!

Subsequently, even the sales of Qingcheng D4, Qingcheng D4 Pro, Orange C5 Max and Yaocheng X3 Ultra were affected to some extent.

But the impact wasn't significant!

After all, Orange phones have a good reputation and are among the best in the industry.

For a time, online opinions were divided into three categories: full support, partial rejection, and complete rejection.

Those who initially thought Orange Auto had spent nearly two years building a car have now changed their tune, criticizing, "Two years to build a car? Without any technological accumulation or chassis design experience, how can you expect to build a safe and reliable car?"

"Trams are too dangerous; they're practically mobile crematoriums!"

Good news: The Deep Blue battery didn't explode! Bad news: The fire was so fierce that it couldn't be extinguished at all!

"Holy crap! You guys actually believe the North American media? Don't forget the Audi brake scandal!"

"In 1999, GM even paid for articles to smear Toyota's first-generation Prius, claiming it was heavily polluting, had a short lifespan, and was prone to catching fire!"

"Support Brother Sen! I remember clearly that the night before the Yaoguang E1 was launched, Brother Sen posted a message saying that Orange Auto had spent half a year conducting safety tests. I don't believe that the Yaoguang E1 has serious quality defects!"

Guided by a group of supporters, many netizens in China have once again sided with Chen Yansen.

At the same time, the North American Transportation Safety Board was working to repair the EDR device, attempting to restore the most accurate data on pedal opening, speed, battery status, acceleration and deceleration commands, and driver assistance functions.

Inside the laboratory, the cold, harsh light from above shone on the charred and deformed EDR device.

Lin Rui, the engineer sent by Orange Auto, wore anti-static gloves, his brows furrowed as he stared intently at the memory chip under the microscope. His fingertips tapped lightly on the precision instruments on the control panel, every movement marked by extreme caution.

"The chip surface is severely carbonized, and the pin corrosion rate exceeds 60%, making conventional reading methods simply not feasible."

Lin Rui's voice carried a hint of fatigue; the intense work that had lasted for more than ten hours had left his eyes bloodshot.

"Mr. Lin, should we try using deep etching technology to first peel off the surface carbonized layer, and then try to activate the chip's backup interface?"

A colleague nearby reminded him.

Standing beside him, Association researcher Hansen crossed his arms and looked at him with a complicated expression: "Lin, I must remind you that, according to regulations, the entire repair process must be videotaped and archived, and all operations must be carried out under our supervision. No violations are allowed."

His tone was professionally rigorous, yet it also concealed a subtle hint of wariness.

Because the interests involved in this incident are too great, no one can guarantee that the other party won't take risks in order to turn the tables.

Lin Rui glanced at him and said calmly, "I understand the rules, and I believe that technology doesn't lie!"

While Chen Yansen was working intensively to repair EDR in the laboratory, he received an encrypted email from Bai Zhenshan.

On the surface, Ronald is a physical education teacher, but in reality, he is a gambling addict.

Seven years ago, after purchasing a large amount of accidental death insurance, every time he was on the verge of debt collapse, anonymous funds were precisely injected, the amount of which just covered his debts.

In addition to the $50,000 transfers he received annually for the past three years, three months ago he also received a one-time remittance of $500,000, the source of which also pointed to that Panamanian shell company.

(End of this chapter)