Chinese automaker’s facial recognition requires drivers to kneel down in front of bumper to activate
By Ryan General
A Chinese electric vehicle company was forced to remove its cars’ facial recognition feature after its implementation was heavily ridiculed on social media.
In a video that went viral on Weibo, an XPeng Motors car owner demonstrated how his vehicle’s facial recognition system required him to kneel down and position his face in front of the car’s front bumper to activate it.
According to the car owner, he was asked to do an identity check after the car brand’s recent system update logged him out. The clip shows him placing his face in front of a camera to fit the circular space the app designated. The owner then realized that the app decided to use a camera near the car’s front bumper.
“Never in my life would I have expected this,” said the car owner.
After the video went viral on Weibo, other users shared similar experiences using their XPeng car.
The feature, which supposedly enables XPeng cars to verify the identity of the drivers, proved to be unpopular among users.
Some complained about the humiliating posture that drivers must take in order to access their own vehicle. Others simply dismissed the product for its difficulty to use.
There were also those who said they instead use a third-party app that the vehicle brand has yet to properly adapt.
XPeng Motors responded quickly to the negative feedback with an apology statement that discusses its customers.
In a statement, the company said that it was working to improve the system and would be seeking feedback from users to ensure that any future updates were better received.
The announcement also noted that the feature would be removed from its cars.
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