Google may bring face biometric unlock to Chrome OS

Google appears to be adding support for facial recognition unlocking to its Chrome OS, as a reference to the feature was identified in a code commit by Chrome Story.

The code refers to enabling the feature on Intel HAL (hardware abstraction layer), which typically calls a peripheral hardware device, and to Intel Face Engine, as well as the Android Camera app, partly suggesting how the service would run. It does not appear that the feature is being added to upcoming Chromebook boards, however.

Chrome Story also points out that a Google patent application dating back to 2014 describes a method of using facial recognition to log on to a laptop.

Android supports facial biometrics, and a code commit for a new API providing native support for face authentication on Android was reported in June. Earlier this month, a new “Face Match” feature was discovered in the code of the latest version of Google Assistant.

Article Topics

access control  |  biometrics  |  facial recognition  |  Google