Automotive ID: Biometrics to Improve the Breathalyzer

A Las Vegas-based inventor has designed a breathalyzer that uses biometric identification to ensure that it’s testing the intended subject. It’s now being promoted by InventHelp, a licensing and promotion specialist for unaffiliated inventors.

In a statement announcing the device, InventHelp declined to name the inventor in question, but explained that her motive was to help prevent drunk driving by developing a breathalyzer system that couldn’t be used fraudulently – for example by getting friends to breath into the breathalyzer for them. InventHelp hasn’t explained what form of biometric authentication is used for the device, or the mechanism by which it links the subject to a given breath sample, but explained that the system is ready for licensing to OEMs that could install it as a “feature on new automobiles, or as an aftermarket safety accessory for installation on existing vehicles.”

It’s a system that could appeal to law enforcement agencies such as Australia’s Victoria Police, whose administrators have been mulling the idea of using in-vehicle biometric authentication to ensure that individuals with suspended licenses are kept off the road. It also complements other biometric technologies such as a light-based blood scanner announced in 2014 that can also determine blood alcohol content.

(Originally posted on FindBiometrics)