You are in a hurry that morning, already a little behind on your schedule to get to work on time. You are about to hurry towards your vehicle when suddenly, a little heartbreak, you realize that your keys are not in their usual place. And that you have no idea where you left them the day before when you returned from your youngest’s judo class…
No such issues would arise with the 2023 Genesis GV60, a premium electric SUV that is offered this year by the Hyundai-Kia Group. No key? Opt for the new biometric technologies, which are provided with this luxury model, first facial recognition to lock or unlock your doors, then the fingerprint to start your car.
And if this luxury model offers it today, it is very likely that several other models will offer it tomorrow.
For now, the 2023 model of Genesis is the first vehicle in the world to offer facial recognition technology to drivers. This innovative function is called Face Connect and allows the driver to use their face to make their life easier and use their car without a physical key.
Here we use a facial recognition sensor with an image processing controller, through a configuration process that is installed using an application that also has an English name: the Genesis Connected Services application.
Initially, the driver of the vehicle will only need his physical key once to enter the vehicle, the time to configure his profile to adhere to facial recognition the following times.
When the time comes, an infrared camera will scan the vehicle owner’s face and software will do the rest. It will analyze the geometry of its face according to its specificities, in particular the distance between its eyes, that between the nose and the chin, and will compare everything with the model which has been registered in the system. If everything matches, tack, the vehicle unlocks.
To find their way around, the driver can also guide himself using an LED indicator located on the central pillar of the car and which will tell him whether his vehicle is locked or not.
The driver will use the second biometric technology offered in this luxury car and start his car, this time using his fingerprint. Think about what you do to open your smart phone, it’s the same thing.
It is therefore the combination of these two technologies (facial recognition and fingerprints) that will allow the user to come and go without worry and without a key ring.
You don’t always want to have your keys on you when you’re running, swimming or skiing down the slopes.
That said, the security enthusiast in me still fidgets a bit. Is this stuff really reliable? At the very least, it was designed to be. To reassure the most skeptical in my camp, you should know that all information is securely stored by encrypted software in the vehicle and that at no time is biometric data downloaded and recorded remotely.
In the same car model, there is also another option to lock and unlock the doors and which, unlike facial recognition, this time can be shared with other users, as one would do by lending his car key to his spouse, his son or a friend, for example. This time, it is a digital key that will already be integrated into a cell phone or a connected watch.
With the Digital Key system, the car owner can now share their key with up to three other people. He can also set his limits as to the duration during which this digital key will be valid for such or such user.
Want even more luxury? Note that this option also allows the driver to be greeted with all respect since when he approaches the vehicle, an interior light will come on and the side mirrors will adjust. More than that, we’re in the Batmobile.
Just kidding, because at first the gadget might seem wacky, but when you think twice, it’s not that much. I would be very curious to see in how many years these biometric tools will be part of all our cars…
