Hyundai Patent Details New Iris-based Ignition System

A new patent application suggests that Hyundai could add iris recognition to a future vehicle. The company filed the patent in the US, and described a system that uses an iris scanner to verify the identity of the driver when they get into a vehicle.

According to the application, the iris recognition system would be linked to the ignition, and prevent someone from starting the car unless there is a biometric match. In doing so, the solution would essentially serve as a security fail-safe, since criminals would not be able to turn on the vehicle even if they did manage to steal a physical key fob or spoof its signal.

Hyundai’s system also comes with a few extra features to make iris recognition easier to use in a vehicle setting. Most notably, the car can move the steering wheel to enable a scan if the wheel is blocking the driver’s face, and it supplements the iris scanner with an infrared camera that can tell whether or not that person is wearing sunglasses or some other covering. In some cases, the car would be able to adjust the lighting to perform a scan through a lens. In others, it would ask the driver to remove their covering to ensure an accurate result.

Once a driver has been recognized, the vehicle would be able to adjust the seat, the steering wheel, and other settings to meet that individual’s preferences. In that regard, the iris recognition system would be comparable to other systems that use face or fingerprint recognition to identify their drivers.

Hyundai itself has dabbled with biometric technologies in the past, placing a fingerprint sensor in the 2019 Santa Fe and in the GV70 SUV from its Genesis luxury subsidiary. The latest Genesis GV60, meanwhile, offers both facial authentication and fingerprint-powered biometric ignition. SiriusXM has also used iris recognition to facilitate in-car transactions.

Source: The Drive

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April 21, 2022 – by Eric Weiss