Xiaomi Slashes Smart Driving Entry Barrier, Industry Shifts Back to ADAS Realism

On February 5, Xiaomi Auto announced that through its latest OTA update, it has lowered the safety mileage threshold for its advanced driver-assistance features from 1,000 kilometers to 300 kilometers. This adjustment aims to allow users to experience advanced intelligent driving capabilities earlier, while emphasizing that “driver assistance ≠ autonomous driving” and reminding drivers to remain attentive to road conditions at all times. The change stems from user feedback indicating that the previous threshold was too high and hindered the user experience, reflecting Xiaomi’s effort to strike a balance between user experience and technological accessibility. This move also mirrors a broader industry shift: starting in 2025, automakers including Xiaomi, Li Auto, and NIO have gradually replaced terms like “intelligent driving” with “driver assistance” in their marketing communications. Behind this shift lies intensifying regulatory scrutiny—China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) has explicitly banned the use of ambiguous terms such as “autonomous driving” and plans to implement stricter national safety standards for driver-assistance systems by 2027. Compounded by the fatal March 2025 crash involving a Xiaomi SU7, which highlighted widespread misconceptions about driver-assistance capabilities, the industry is now moving away from technological hype toward a more safety-conscious and pragmatic approach.