“…FPC said the facial recognition technology would initially be developed for smartphone applications, but that it will eventually find its way into the automotive and Internet of Things sectors into which FPC is currently seeking to expand.”

Fingerprint Cards is delving into facial recognition technology, and aims to integrate it into consumer products during the second half of this year.

In a statement announcing the effort, FPC CEO Christian Fredrikson explained, “We see a growing interest in the smartphone industry for touchless biometric solutions, as well as for combining different biometric modalities, with the main driver being to increase both security and convenience.” Bringing facial recognition to FPC’s solutions portfolio, he said, will make FPC “uniquely well-positioned to meet this demand”.

While Fingerprint Cards established its leading position in the mobile biometrics industry with its fingerprint sensor technology, the company expanded its portfolio last year with the addition of an iris recognition solution, the product of its acquisition of Delta ID near the start of 2017. There is no indication that FPC’s effort toward facial recognition involves such an acquisition, however, with the company’s announcement asserting that it is “developing a face recognition solution.”

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In its announcement, FPC said the facial recognition technology would initially be developed for smartphone applications, but that it will eventually find its way into the automotive and Internet of Things sectors into which FPC is currently seeking to expand. (FPC had also announced at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show that it is working with Gentex on iris recognition solutions for the connected car market.)

The move toward facial recognition may be seen as part of a larger industry shift kicked off by last autumn’s launch of the iPhone X, which replaced Apple’s iconic fingerprint authentication system with one based on a sophisticated form of facial recognition. Numerous mobile players are now seeking to establish face biometrics solutions of their own, with FPC now being one of the more prominent among them.