Xiaomi smart car system repeatedly detects Chinese man's eyes as closed when they're just small

A Chinese man recently had the internet in China in laughter after the Artificial Intelligence (AI) system in his Xiaomi car kept incorrectly detecting his facial features as fatigued, which repeatedly provided alerts that hindered his driving.

It turns out, he was not sleepy.

His eyes were just small.

The video posted showed the AI's fatigue warning system voice alert repeatedly advising the man to “please focus on driving”, with a similar on-screen message being displayed on the car's dashboard screen.

Reminders reportedly came on around 20 times

Li was driving his older sister's Xiaomi SU7 Max in Zhajiang province, China, on Jun. 17 when the incident occurred.

The sister could be heard cackling in the video as the alarms continued to go off.

The reminders reportedly happened around 20 times throughout the entire journey.

Li told local media outlets that the alarm only stopped sounding when he deliberately widened his eyes.

"It thinks I'm sleeping when the truth is my eyes are just small," he said, noting that he found the situation both ridiculous and frustrating.

He did not mention it was racist.

Xiaomi Auto's customer service said every Xiaomi car is equipped with the system, which is designed to protect the driver's safety.

Though the function can be turned off, it is not recommended that drivers do so.

The older sister posted a follow-up video on Douyin a few days later, saying that the video was created for laughs and not meant to slander Xiaomi in any way.

A similar incident reportedly happened in 2022, where a Xiaopeng Motors car owner was incorrectly detected for being fatigued due to his small eyes, as reported by Hangzhou news site.

The man had expressed his frustrations on Weibo, saying he just has small eyes and did not fall asleep while driving.

Top image via 欧薇儿/Douyin