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Author | Chai Xuchen
Editor | Zhou Zhiyu
In the early morning of February 25th, an incident occurred due to a misrecognition of the voice command by the Lynk &amp; Co Z20 vehicle, causing all the lights in the car to suddenly turn off on the highway and resulting in a collision with the guardrail. This incident has brought the safety redundancy issues of smart cockpits into the spotlight.
According to the car owner involved, the incident happened around 1 a.m. on February 25th. At that time, he was driving a Lynk &amp; Co Z20 on a dark highway without street lighting. In order to obtain better driving visibility, the owner attempted to turn off the reading light inside the car and habitually activated the vehicle's voice assistant to issue the command.
However, the vehicle system did not accurately recognize the command to &#34;turn off the reading light,&#34; but instead executed a more drastic operation—instantly turning off all the lights in the car, including the headlights.
In a panic, he tried to quickly turn the headlights back on using a voice command, but the vehicle system failed to recognize the command again. Video recordings show that while the owner repeatedly called for the system to turn the lights back on, the system responded with, &#34;Not yet.&#34;
Without any visual guidance, the Lynk &amp; Co Z20 ultimately lost control and crashed into the guardrail on the highway. Fortunately, this incident only resulted in vehicle damage and did not cause any injuries.
Lynk &amp; Co responded quickly. On February 26th, Mu Jun, the deputy general manager of Lynk &amp; Co, publicly addressed the issue on his personal Weibo, stating, &#34;Last night, there was an incident where the voice misoperation of the Lynk &amp; Co Z20 vehicle turned off the headlights while driving. Today, we completed the voice control optimization plan at the first opportunity, and it has been updated via cloud push. In the future, headlights can only be turned off manually while driving, so please rest assured.&#34;
Although the response was swift, many are still curious as to why the voice system was granted the highest authority to turn off the headlights with a single command while the vehicle was in motion. Some ZEEKR owners have expressed to Wall Street Journal that similar issues have occurred with ZEEKR models, which share the same platform as Lynk &amp; Co.
While this incident has been temporarily resolved with the official quick fix, the deeper issues it exposes are still worth reflecting on for the entire new energy vehicle industry.
In recent years, with the advancement of the automotive &#34;new four modernizations,&#34; car manufacturers have taken pride in eliminating physical buttons and integrating all functions into large screens and voice controls when creating &#34;smart cockpits.&#34; Voice assistants do bring certain conveniences to in-car interactions, but when it comes to safety, &#34;intelligence&#34; must never override &#34;safety.&#34;
Core driving functions such as headlights, wipers, brakes, and steering must adhere to the strictest safety redundancy standards. When the vehicle is in motion (especially at high speeds), the system should have the &#34;veto power&#34; over dangerous commands.
Lynk &amp; Co's attitude and efficiency in &#34;patching up overnight&#34; are commendable, but this incident also serves as a warning to all new and old car manufacturers
While pursuing refrigerators, color TVs, large sofas, and cool AI interactions, respecting life, respecting common sense, and maintaining the bottom line of vehicle safety is the most essential skill that car companies should cultivate

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- An accident occurred on February 25, involving a Lynk & Co Z20, where a voice command misrecognition led to all vehicle lights suddenly turning off on the highway, causing a collision with a guardrail.  
- The incident highlights significant safety redundancy issues in smart cabin technologies, raising concerns about allowing voice systems to control critical functions while driving.  
- In response, the company provided a swift update to improve voice command recognition and emphasized the importance of prioritizing safety over smart features in vehicle design.

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Lynk & Co Z20 voice command mistakenly turned off headlights, causing a highway collision; official emergency OTA patch issued