Techno Chronicle | Get into your car without your key

You are in a hurry that morning, already a little behind on your schedule to get to work on time. You are about to hurry towards your vehicle when suddenly, a little heartbreak, you realize that your keys are not in their usual place. And that you have no idea where you left them the day before when you came back from your youngest’s judo class…

No such problem would arise with the 2023 Genesis GV60, a high-end electric SUV that is offered this year by the Hyundai-Kia group. No key? Opt for the new biometric technologies, which are provided with this luxury model, first facial recognition to lock or unlock your doors, then the fingerprint to start your racing car.

And if this luxury model offers it today, it is very likely that several other models will offer it tomorrow.

The first of its kind

At the moment, the 2023 model of Genesis is the first vehicle in the world to offer facial recognition technology to drivers. This innovative function has the English name Face Connect and allows the driver to use their face to make their life easier and use their car without a physical key.

Here we use a facial recognition sensor with an image processing controller, through a configuration process that is installed using an application that also has an English name: the application Genesis Connected Services.

Initially, the driver of the vehicle will only need their physical key once to enter the vehicle, the time to configure their profile to adhere to facial recognition the following times.

When the time comes, an infrared camera will scan the vehicle owner’s face and software will do the rest. He will analyze the geometry of his face according to his specificities, in particular the distance between his eyes, that between the nose and the chin, and will compare everything with the model that has been registered in the system. If everything matches, tack, the vehicle unlocks.

To find their way around, the driver will also be able to guide himself using an LED indicator located on the central pillar of the car and which will tell him whether his vehicle is locked or not.

And to start the car?

The driver will use the second biometric technology offered in this luxury car and start his car, this time using his fingerprint. Think about what you do to open your smart phone, it’s the same thing.

It is therefore the combination of these two technologies (facial recognition and fingerprints) that will allow the user to come and go without worry and without a key ring.

Motorists will therefore have plenty of time to leave their car keys at home. Useful especially for sportsmen and outdoor enthusiasts who like to have their hands free.

You don’t always want to have your keys on you when you’re running, swimming or skiing down the slopes.

That said, the security enthusiast in me still fidgets a bit. Is this thing really reliable? At the very least, it was designed to be. To reassure the most skeptical of my camp, you should know that all the information is handled securely by encrypted software in the vehicle and that at no time are biometric data downloaded and recorded remotely.

Or a digital key

In the same car model, there is also another option to lock and unlock the doors and which, unlike facial recognition, can this time be shared with other users, as one would do by lending his car key to his spouse, his son or a friend, for example. This time it is a digital key that will already be integrated into a cell phone or a connected watch.

With the Digital Key system, the car owner can then share his key with up to three other people. He can also set his limits as to the duration during which this digital key will be valid for such or such user.

Want even more luxury? Note that this option also allows the driver to be greeted with all respect since when he approaches the vehicle, an interior light will come on and the side mirrors will adjust. More than that, we’re in the Batmobile.

Just kidding, because initially the gadget might seem wacky, but when you think twice, it’s not that much. I would be very curious to see in how many years these biometric tools will be part of all our cars…