Technological Innovations in Biometrics Redefine Security Measures of Automobiles

Erstwhile, science-fiction movies that portrayed unlocking door with retina scanning or identify criminals with fingerprint database seemed like a fantasy. However, if you look around, we are surrounded by several of those fictions. In fact, biometrics are becoming a major part in every industry, especially automobiles.

How many times do people miss their appointments because they couldn’t find their car keys at the right time? Thanks to biometrics, this will no longer be a concern. Silicon Valley is all set to launch fingerprint identifications for cars. Moreover, there are companies that want to use facial recognition to unlock vehicles. Increased need for safety and rapid technological development in the emerging markets have increased the demand for automotive biometrics. According to Allied Market Research, the global automotive biometric market is expected to reach $1,128 million by the end of 2024. However, as the technology is still in its infancy, the market is struggling with the high manufacturing cost. On the contrary, elevated demand for luxurious vehicles is expected to create lucrative opportunities in the future.

Automotive manufacturers and–not to mention–insurance companies are tired of car thieves who have been intercepting key fob signals for remote control heists. To deal with such incidents, automobile manufacturers are eager to launch fingerprint access for automobiles within the next two years.

Synaptics, a California-based developer of human interface hardware and software, is all set to roll out fingerprint access for cars. The company’s biometric solution is said to be used for either driver or passenger authentication by integrating sensors into vehicle controls, including steering wheel and start button. Moreover, the company announced that the fingerprint sensors would act as navigation devices to control menus on a head-up display. Synaptics has also mentioned benefits such as geofencing as well as time-based access to cars; the vehicle’s biometrics would identify its owner by monitoring stored seat position and music preferences. In addition, the company has added parental control mode that can restrict the car’s performance during a particular time of the day, which will enable to turn off the car of students on school nights.

Apart from Synaptics, the world’s leading biometrics company, Fingerprint Cards, launched a fingerprint sensor module for automobiles to add security and convenience using biometric technology. The biometric, FPC1021AP, is a capacitive fingerprint sensor, which is AEC-Q100 compliant and meets the stringent industrial standards. According to the firm, the sensor has through with extensive testing and verification, and now, the product is ready for large-scale production as well as integration with automobiles. In fact, the company expects the deployment of the first vehicle incorporated with FPC1021AP during 2019.

Palm recognition technology is no longer something that could be possible in the cinematic universe. It is marked as the future for unlocking and recognizing passengers in automobiles. Recently, DeepBlue Technology, a Chinese AI company launched driving bus that features palm recognition along with AI voice system to allow customers to interact with it. These buses are called “Smart Panda Bus” and fully equipped with DeepBlue’s autonomous driving technology, eco-friendly electric engine, and computer vision.

In the metro cities of China such as Beijing and Shanghai, increasing urban traffic has become a point at issue. The number of vehicles on the road is increasing faster than the new subways and metros can be built. Thus, the Chinese government has implemented several BRT projects in the central urban areas, incorporating next-generation autonomous vehicles. DeepBlue has sold Smart Panda Buses in more than 200 cities in China and nearly 500 cities around the globe.

Retina scanning and fingerprint scanning is regarded as the next-generation security solution. However, there are companies that hope to develop an innovative solution that can monitor the heart rate of the driver and recognize the passengers and drivers based on the measured ECG.

B-Secur, the company that specializes in biometric heartbeat (ECG) solutions, has announced its partnership with Analog Devices (ADI), the global leader in design and manufacturing of analog, mixed-signal, and DSP integrated circuits, to develop ECG biometric solution to automobiles. The solution is expected to combine B-Secur’s ECG biometrics with ADI’s signal conditioning technology to allow automobiles to authenticate both drivers and passengers.

The company announced that the technology will monitor vital signs of the driver to detect wellness as well as intoxication. Ben Carter, the chief commercial officer of B-Secur, stated, “The novel technology of our company not only quickly and securely identifies the vitals of the driver, but can also turn the data into meaningful insights about the passenger’s or driver’s wellness, including stress levels and drowsiness.” He added that the company is delighted to work with ADI to help make the world a safer place with use of ECG biometrics. Along with ECG biometrics, the solution can be used for immobilizer deactivation, online payment, and infotainment personalization.

There is unlimited potential for automotive biometric. From unlocking doors to parental locking, everything can be made more secure with biometrics. However, there are several security concerns.

People, especially those who are well aware of mishaps while using public Wi-Fi services and other IoT devices, know that anything that ultimately connects to the internet is vulnerable to hack. Unsecured public networks, which are found on airplanes and in coffee shops, completely expose every device connected to them to hacking and data breach. To deal with such vulnerability, people tend to opt for solutions that were protected by blockchain. However, soon the world realize that even cryptocurrency exchanges are vulnerable to intrusion. Thus, it is safe to say that biometrics can significantly reduce the threat of automobile theft.

However, you can never develop a full-proof security solution; there is always a weak link. In the future, hackers will find some way to interfere with the systems that interact with biometric recognition. Thus, the firms that provide biometric solutions will focus on making the technology safer and developing a more secure system that can prevent hackers from interacting with biometrics.