Electric Smart Car to Use Biometrics for Passenger Recognition

“The car features an embedded voice recognition system, and uses facial recognition to unlock car doors.”

China-based smart car maker Byton is planning to unveil its flagship offering at this month’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

The company’s eponymous vehicle places a heavy emphasis on its user interfaces. It features multiple display screens inside the car, including a central ‘Shared Experience Display’ that all passengers can interact with using hand gestures. The user interaction system is also designed to incorporate apps and data from other devices.

As for how it will identify passengers, Byton relies on biometrics. The car features an embedded voice recognition system, and uses facial recognition to unlock car doors.

Byton’s enthusiasm for biometric technology in the smart car appears to reflect a broader trend in the automotive sector, with Hyundai Mobis having recently announced it will also showcase biometric identification technology at CES. For its part, Byton says its technology will be available for test drives starting on January 8th, and that its electric smart car will go into production in 2019, with a US and European release planned for 2020.

Looking to the more immediate future, CES will run from January 9th to 12th.