Popular Mechanics (South Africa)
Smart cars
How we’ll interact with our rides
BIOMETRICS WILL RADICALLY TRANSFORM OUR DRIVING, WELL- BEING AND VEHICLE SECURITY
You’re a little stressed out. You’re running late for an early-morning appointment and tired from pulling an all-nighter to finish that important assignment. So your first few stabs at the Start button accomplish nothing more than a sullenly uncooperative engine and a purring yet insistent voice that nags: “Fingerprint not recognised. Please try again.”
Eventually you fumble out of the driveway, noting that your heart rate has rock- eted into the red zone. Also, your shallow, rapid breathing is not sucking down nearly enough oxygen. Must be the caffeine turboboost of those last two espressos. Actually, no: two kilometres up the road, there’s that purr again. “Erratic steering. Possible drowsiness. Please pull over and rest as soon as possible.” You snarl: “Activate Autonomy, dammit.” The last words you hear, in a rapidly diminishing purr: “Stress levels danger- ously high. Wellness sequence activated. Commencing sedative atmosphere pump. Sweet dreams…”
Advancements in biometrics will radically transform the driving experience, health wellness and well-being (HWW), and security of vehicles by 2025, according to a report from analysts Frost & Sullivan. Biometrics in the Global Automotive Industry, 20162025 predicts that our cars will be able to do much more than just drive themselves (also see “Putting the brakes on autonomy”). Our cars, the analysis suggests, will become one with The Quantified Self: the datadriven connected existence that measures
every conceivable aspect of our lifestyles.
The analysis predicts that, by 2025, one in three new passenger vehicles will begin to feature fingerprint recognition, iris recognition, voice recognition, gesture recognition, heart beat monitoring, brain wave monitoring, stress detection, fatigue monitoring, eyelid monitoring, facial monitoring, and pulse detection. “These will be driven by built-in, brought-in and cloud-enabled technologies,” says Frost & Sullivan. Big automotive original equipment manufacturers and suppliers will have their work cut out keeping up with technologies, business models, and regulations shaping the automotive biometrics ecosystem.
Signs of the emerging technologies were evident at this year’s CES. Honda’s Neuv concept is described as an electric automated car equipped with an artificial intelligence (AI) “emotion engine” and automated personal assistant. The concept, says Honda, creates “new possibilities for human interaction and new value for customers”. Chrysler’s Portal concept features facial recognition and voice biometrics (see “Judging the mood”, below).
Partnerships between companies who make cars and those who make wearables will speed up the implementation of automotive biometrics, says Frost & Sullivan Intelligent Mobility Industry Analyst Joe Praveen Vijayakumar. These partnerships will cut the costs of related research and development, while at the same time creating growth avenues for wearables companies. “New business models such as Device-as-a-service (Daas) and health as a service will also emerge.”
The Biometrics in the Global Automotive Industry, 2016-2025 analysis, a part of Frost & Sullivan’s Automotive & Transportation Growth Partnership Service programme, finds that OEMS and suppliers are investing in advanced biometrics based on human machine interaction (HMI) concepts such as natural language and gesture recognition. They are also vertically integrating and funding relevant start-ups to build a stronger portfolio.
Judging the mood
At CES, Honda presented its Co-operative Mobility Ecosystem concept, connecting the power of artificial intelligence, robotics and big data to transform the mobility experience of the future. The Honda concept envisages a future where vehicles will communicate with each other and infrastructure to mitigate traffic congestion and eliminate traffic fatalities, while increasing the productivity of road users and delivering new types of in-vehicle entertainment experiences. Vehicles will create new value by providing services autonomously when not in use by their owners.
Honda’s concept Neuv (new-v), which stands for New Electric Urban Vehicle, is based on the fact that privately owned vehicles sit idle 96 per cent of the time. The Neuv explores the idea of how to create new value for its owner by functioning as an automated ride sharing vehicle, picking up and dropping off customers at local destinations when the owner is not using it.
The Neuv can also sell energy back to the electric grid during times of high demand when it’s not in use. These activities have the potential to create a new business model for enterprising customers.
The Neuv’s AI assistant is based on an “emotion engine”, an emerging technology developed by Honda and Softbank (cocoro SB Corp.). Called HANA (Honda Automated Network Assistant), in its application in the Neuv, the emotion engine will learn from the driver by detecting the emotions behind the driver’s judgments and then, based on the driver’s past decisions, make new choices and recommendations. HANA can check on the driver’s emotional wellbeing, make music recommendations based on mood, and support the owner’s daily driving routine.
A Honda technology being developed in collaboration with speech-activation specialists Vocalzoom reads physical vibrations generated from the speaker’s voice, and ascertains additional layers of voice data not attainable by traditional acoustic mics alone. This additional information significantly increases an on-board computer’s understanding of voice commands, especially in harshnoise environments.
Chrysler’s e-powered Portal also makes use of this idea of interactivity in what is styled “next-generation family transport”. Besides the masses of clever drive-assist sensors built into the full-
autonomous-ready Portal are more than 20 technologies designed to “engage, inform and connect the driver and passengers”. Chrysler says this adaptable and upgradable user experience anticipates needs and can evolve with lifestyle changes and technology advancements. Tech highlights include: Facial recognition and voice biometrics that recognise the user and are able to customise individual or family settings to provide a unique drive experience based on preferred features, such as lighting, favourite music, enhanced audio
settings and favoured destination. Vehicle-to-x ( V2X) communication with potential for intersection crash
warning, traffic sign recognition and emergency vehicle alerts. Personal Zoned Audio keeps the driver aware of surroundings by enhancing sound and directionality in the event of approaching emergency vehicles.
Securing your ride
Innovations have transformed how we interact with our cars, but given their dependence on the cloud and data, there is a potentially huge downside: new security threats and vulnerabilities.
According to David Emm, principal security researcher at Kaspersky Lab, it’s been found that connected cars can be hacked and controlled remotely; researchers achieved this by exploiting a zero-day vulnerability they found in the car’s computer system. Further, manufacturers opting for a popular platform, such as Android, face the same security scenarios as mobile devices run on the same OS, such as malicious applications and perhaps even ransomware.
“And then, of course, the data gathered and communicated by connected vehicles could be intercepted to reveal private information about the vehicle and its occupants, all of which would increase physical vulnerability,” Emm says.
“To reap the many future benefits of connected automotive systems and vehicles, it is critical that the industry is committed to embedding security-bydesign from the very start of development. This should include installing the latest software in vehicular systems and updating it regularly.”
There’s no looking back, Frost & Sullivan’s Praveen agrees. “Urbanisation will continue to fuel emphasis on biometrics-driven advanced driver assistance system (ADAS) features to navigate heavy traffic while ensuring safety and comfort. However, customer concerns surrounding the safety of the sensitive data collected through biometrics will compel suppliers to invest in cybersecurity measures to build credibility and increase growth.”