Let’s keep this statement in mind: the car is not the definitive anti-theft system. Any security measure to prevent unauthorized access to or entry into the car will only deter thieves or make their job more difficult.
But at a time when cars are becoming more sophisticated and connected, the automotive world is still working to develop more advanced anti-theft systems that add at least a level of security. Greater security can not only prevent theft, but also adapt to the needs that emerge in the automotive industry.
If our mobile phones can already be unlocked using facial biometric identification technology, which analyzes images to verify that our face corresponds to the user’s authorized access to the phone, why don’t they make our cars do it only by checking us. to the authority of the driver?
Facial biometrics could not only add a level of security in modern cars, but also facilitate identification in car communication and the use of integrated payment tools.
Facial biometrics to prevent car theft
The German Continental is one of the main suppliers of the automotive industry, mainly because of its top brands, but also dedicated to the various technological solutions that, although in many cases we do not know, are present in our cars. Its latest innovation is a system of identifying the driver through biometric facial analysis, similar to that used in modern mobile phones, which are gradually being replaced by identification by PIN code, or patterns, by fingers and later by fingerprints.
The Driver Identification System, presented by Continental these days, seems according to its creators to be a safe and also economical solution. Continental Technologies incorporated photographic technology into the screens used for today’s digital media and entertainment systems. And it can also be used as a detector of yawning, work and driver attention, which is one of the security measures that will force the deployment of the European Union standard.
But, as we told you, this method of theft is more than just a method. And it turned out that its most useful and perhaps the most useful use case is in the identification of different drivers and, in particular, the identification solutions used for wireless payment methods.
Secure payments and car sharing
The car industry operates with the paradigm of the automobile and a future in which car ownership could be displaced by cars that are shared by hundreds, or even thousands of active mobility users who operate in fleets of car sharing, as they already are. the present of Madrid. And, although Continental does not indicate this application in its release, the driver’s facial biometric identification would facilitate the use of this type of car sharing services and, above all, add a level of security by guaranteeing identity. the driver and this ordinary user.
Another feature of the use of Driver Identification System would be the same in the middle of the integrated solution. Facilitation of transactions, such as payments for parking, taxes, or even applications that are integrated into the entertainment system of our car.
Finally, we should not forget the importance of culture as a factor in the security system or not, as facial biometrics are successful in the car. We were used to the fact that our car opens its doors, the engine can be started, the key action and, in comparison with modern cars, the presence of wireless control. Making the leap to more sophisticated solutions, such as facial biometrics, may present difficulties among drivers who are used to the fact that opening and starting our cars requires a physical key or remote. Perhaps this difficulty has meant that in this continent we have not seen solutions that have been used for many years, even decades, in other markets, such as opening a car using a PIN code.
