Smart Electric Doors: Xiaomi Auto's Technical Sincerity or Marketing Gimmick?

Lei Jun got into the car; the door opened automatically before he entered and closed automatically after. There were no extra steps throughout the process. The amount of information revealed by this video is much larger than it appears at first glance.

Smart electric doors aren't a new concept. Tesla's Model X falcon-wing doors and HiPhi X's coach doors have both made similar attempts. But Xiaomi's move this time has several details worth digging into.

Look at Lei Jun's actions in the video. He didn't touch the door handle with his hand before getting in, nor did he use his phone or key to perform any unlocking action. What does this mean? At least two technical prerequisites: one, the door must have UWB or Bluetooth high-precision positioning capabilities to identify the owner approaching; two, the door mechanism must respond to lock/unlock commands, and the motor drive must be quiet and smooth enough. From the video, the door opening and closing showed no obvious jerking, indicating good NVH control.

But the real question is: do customers have the willingness to pay for this?

The cost of the "opening" action is high. A set of smart electric doors with anti-pinch, obstacle detection, and motor drive has a BOM cost of at least several thousand yuan. Xiaomi's Pengcheng N90 is likely positioned in the 300k+ RMB range, so this cost can be absorbed, but it must translate into user-perceived experiential value.

I've seen many automakers fail with smart doors. Either the mechanical failure rate was too high, or the opening logic was too complex (e.g., requiring you to shout at the door to open it). Xiaomi's approach this time is very restrained: no flashy wing doors, no complex voice commands, just the simplest automatic open, automatic close.

What users care about isn't that the door opens itself, but not having to pull that heavy handle manually. Especially in the rear seats, traditional car doors are hard to open in tight parking spots; electric doors can solve this pain point. But the core technical difficulty isn't the motor, but sensor fusion—how to determine that the door won't hit adjacent cars or pedestrians when opening? This requires millimeter-wave radar or ultrasonic sensors combined with visual algorithms to calculate the opening angle in real-time.

Where lies the implementation difficulty? Supply chain. There are only a few suppliers for smart electric door actuators: Bosch, Continental, Magna. Capacity is limited, and customization levels are high. If Xiaomi wants to make this feature standard equipment, they need to secure orders in advance. Judging by the timing of the video release, the N90 should already be in the prototyping stage, and the supply chain is basically confirmed.

For Xiaomi, the significance of this feature is more about establishing a brand mindset of "tech luxury." BBA's electric doors are optional; if Xiaomi can make them standard with a smooth experience, it creates differentiation in the 300k price segment. But the risks are also obvious: once a door experiences occasional failures after delivery, public backlash will be severe.

In the video, the sound of the door closing after Lei Jun got in was very light. This detail deserves praise. Many automakers use cheap limiters to save costs, resulting in a loud "clang" when closing, instantly destroying the sense of luxury. If Xiaomi can keep the opening/closing noise of the electric door under 40 decibels, then the experience of this feature passes.

As for whether smart electric doors are worth buying, it comes down to two things: can the failure rate stay below 0.1%, and can OTA continuously optimize the opening logic? If these two can't be achieved, it's just a gimmick, and users will quickly revert to manual opening.

Technical feasibility is fine. Commercial value depends on whether Xiaomi can compress costs to a level where users are willing to pay extra.

Original link: https://www.ithome.com/0/978/626.htm