Today we live in a sophisticated world where luxury cars are embedded with sensor technology or cameras that monitor the driver’s alertness and give an alarm if the driver falls asleep.
However, this technology seems to have a certain limit, where small-eyed drivers are often perceived as asleep by sensors.
The problem appears to be in China where a driver with small eyes often gets an alarm from the car he is driving. A blogger from China named DerekTLM said that the Xpeng car he was driving often assumed that he was asleep until he gave a warning. In fact, he does have genetically small eyes, making the sensors on the car think he is blindfolded.
From a Chinese media report, Derek is reported to have reported the problem on the social media site Weibo. DerekTLM says his eyes are small but he doesn’t fall asleep behind the wheel. “Are we small-eyed people inappropriate [to use] Navigation Pilot technology?” Derek said. Derek even tagged Xpeng’s CEO in his post and asked for system upgrades for small-eyed people.
A similar problem has previously occurred that has created a stigma if self-driving technology is considered racist because it fails to detect dark-skinned pedestrians with the same accuracy as light-skinned people.
Considering that this technology has the potential to save lives, it would be very unfair for certain drivers to have access to a properly functioning system based solely on their facial features.
Many parties want local authorities such as NHTSA and IIHS to conduct further research on this technology.
