Fingerprint Authentication Applied to Hyundai Cars
Hyundai Motor Co. has developed a fingerprint-based authentication system for car door opening and car starting, the carmaker announced on Dec. 17. The company is going to apply the system first to the Santa Fe SUV model that is scheduled to be released in China in the first quarter of 2019.
The system allows a driver to open the doors of his or her car and start it even without a key once his or her fingerprint is pre-registered. Once the door handle sensor of the car is touched, his or her encrypted fingerprint data is transmitted to the controller inside the car and the car is unlocked. The start button in the car is equipped with a fingerprint sensor, and the car can be started when it is touched.
In addition, the system supports personalized driving settings by adjusting the driver’s seat position and wing mirrors based on the pre-registered fingerprints of multiple drivers. The company is going to include temperature and humidity control, steering wheel position adjustment, and so on in the personalized settings as well.
The system is based on capacitance recognition. It uses the capacitance difference between parts touched and not touched by the fingerprint and, as such, it is hardly vulnerable to fake fingerprints.
According to the company, the probability of misrecognition of the system is approximately one-50,000th. In other words, it is almost five times more secure than general smart keys. In addition, the probability falls based on real-time learning as the driver repeatedly uses the system.