Megvii and ams partner to bring 3D facial biometrics to any smart device

Austria-based sensor specialist ams AG has formed a joint development partnership with Megvii to work on plug-and-play solutions for 3D face recognition on any smart device, according to a company announcement.

ams is a supplier of optical sensor for Apple’s 3D Face ID technology, and has been working to reduce its market dependency on the tech giant.

Megvii and ams plan to offer an off the shelf facial recognition system for smart home, smart retail, smart building, and smart security applications, independent of smartphones. The integrated solution will feature ams’ Vertical-Cavity Surface-Emitting Laser (VCSEL) emitter modules with Megvii’s depth mapping and facial recognition software. The companies plan to create a 3D Active Stereo solution, which they say will be the first, with robust performance in indoor and outdoor lighting conditions.

The companies plan to bring the device to market before the end of 2019. Shares in ams rose 10 percent on the news, according to Reuters.

Megvii and ams also signed a partnership to accelerate adoption of 3D facial recognition and other optical technologies by mobile phone OEMs and system integrators at the beginning of the year.

Megvii is also under consideration for blacklisting by the U.S. government, despite having been cleared of involvement in a surveillance app used by Chinese authorities.

Article Topics

3D face recognition  |  AMS  |  biometric sensors  |  biometrics  |  Megvii