Automotive biometrics market set for growth as GM and Osram announce new technologies

Biometric applications from physical access control for vehicle entry, through authentication to services, driver monitoring for autonomous driving systems and gesture or voice recognition for driver control are motivating new announcements from companies in different portions of the market. The most recent entries are from global auto manufacturer General Motors, established semiconductors powerhouse Osram, and voice and speech recognition startup Voxomos.

Two reports forecast rapid growth

The global market for biometrics in the automotive industry is forecast to grow at a CAGR of over 15.3 percent through 2025 in a new report from Mordor Intelligence, while Accuray Research forecasts a 14.4 percent CAGR for automotive end-point authentication from 2019 to 2028.

Comparing future vehicles to smartphones, the firm identifies identity as a key battleground in the industry, and biometrics as they way it will be established.

According to the 110-page “Biometrics in the Automotive Market—Growth, Trends, and Forecast (2020-2025),” fingerprint recognition will be widely deployed, and North America will be the largest regional market. The technology is expected to be used for vehicle access control and theft risk mitigation, among other applications.

Synaptics, Sensory and Nuance Communications are mentioned among market leaders.

The 170-page “Global Automotive End-Point Authentication Market Analysis & Trends – Industry Forecast to 2028” report from Accuray Research predicts that trends towards increased regulation, cyber threats, and recent technological developments in vehicles as a point of authentication are creating opportunities for growth and investment.

The major authentication types, according to the report, will be biometric vehicle access, smart phone applications, and wearables.

GM launches more autonomous system

General Motors is developing a semi-autonomous driving system that keeps the facial recognition component of its earlier autonomous system, but can operate beyond the 200,000 miles of freeway in the U.S. and Canada that have been mapped with lidar technology to assist on-board systems.

The “Ultra Cruise” system would be able to operate on city streets, making it more competitive with Tesla’s Autopilot, according to CNBC.

GM launched “Super Cruise” in 2017, but that autonomous system is limited to highway driving. Both Super Cruise and Ultra Cruise utilize facial recognition to ensure the driver is focussed.

Osram launches illuminator for gesture recognition

Osram Opto Semiconductors has released an ultra-compact infrared LED designed to enable gesture recognition in vehicle interiors, Printed Electronics Now reports.

The Oslon Piccolo IRED is only 1.6 mm by 1.6 mm with a height of 0.81 mm, making it suitable for embedding in an advanced driver assistance system (ADAS), and runs with DC power of 1.15 W at 1 A, with switching times of 10 nanoseconds, it can be used as a constant light source or for producing modulated or fast pulsed light for 3D image acquisition. The Oslon Piccolo comes in 850 nm and 940 nm wavelengths.

MG Motors India backs Voxomos voice biometrics and speech recognition

Voxomos has been chosen for MG Motor India’s for its grant and development program, with an eye toward potential integration of voice biometrics and natural language processing for Indian languages to vehicles.

“Voice will be the next revolution in the automotive sector as it will change the whole paradigm of the user interface in vehicles,” says MG Motor India Chief Commercial Officer Gaurav Gupta in a press release. “MG HECTOR, which is India’s first internet car, is already equipped with voice technology and we are further going to build on our technological capacities. We are delighted to select and support Voxomos, which will enhance our focus on voice interaction – simplifying and streamlining our day-to-day internal processes at MG.”

The carmaker said Voxomos’ technology could enable a range of capabilities in its vehicles.

“Our partnership with MG will help us showcase the new technological wave of going beyond touch interfaces to contactless and more intuitive solutions integrating voice,” Voxomos CEO Sandeep Kumar comments.

Kumar told The Financial Express the grant will enable Voxomos to scale more quickly.

Article Topics

access control  |  authentication  |  automotive biometrics  |  biometric identification  |  biometrics  |  cars  |  facial recognition  |  gesture recognition  |  market report  |  monitoring  |  Osram Opto Semiconductors  |  personalization  |  voice recognition