Cars that can recognise their owners from a distance are only a few years away, according to car tyre giant Continental, which is demonstrating a hi-tech prototype car at the CES tech fair in Las Vegas.
Functions that use biometrics to scan faces and to interpret and act on a person’s facial and physical movement could go into series production in the next three to five years, the German multinational said.
A car might then be able to recognise and unlock for the owner before remotely starting the engine and proactively opening the boot for them in the supermarket car park.
According to Continental’s sleek demo, dubbed the “Intelligent Vehicle Experience Car with IQ”, the vehicle can also identify someone who is not authorised to use it and who may be approaching it with criminal intent. In this case, the doors remain locked and a warning is activated.
While some modern cars can now be securely unlocked via the NFC chip in a smartphone, manufacturers have yet to implement biometrics familiar from the facial recognition used by many smartphone apps.