2019 Hyundai Santa Fe gets FINGERPRINT recognition to unlock and start

Hyundai is launching fingerprint recognition on the 2019 Santa Fe SUV, claiming a world first for the teAlbert Biermannchnology in a car to let you access and start it.

Biometric security stuff sounds like the ideal way to keep the things we value safe from the nefarious antics of ne’er-do-wells, whether it’s access to our phones or tablets, or even our cars. But there are problems.

Seemingly clever facial recognition can be fooled by high-res photos, voice recognition by readily available software and fingerprint scanners by high-res photos too, but also failing to work if your finger is wet or dirty or scratched…

But Hyundai claim to have cracked the fingerprint recognition stuff to such a degree it’s being launched on the 2019 Santa Fe, where it will be used to lock and unlock the car and to start it, promising to input all the user’s settings as soon as their fingerprint is recognised.

None of that is particularly groundbreaking, but what appears to be is Hyundai’s implementation of the technology, which seems to have addressed the hacking concerns for the tech.

Rather than simply scanning the unique ridges of fingerprints, Hyundai’s technology also uses capacitance recognition which detects differentials in the electricity levels in various parts of the fingertip to prevent fakes and forgeries. It also claims to be so clever it misrecognises just once in 50,000 times.

Albert Biermann, now head of Hyundai R&D, said:

In the future, Hyundai Motor plans to further expand the application of the technology to allow the adjustment of temperature, steering wheel position, and many other features which will be tailored to driver’s preferences.

This will ultimately offer quality driving experience to each and every Hyundai customer.

If it works as well as Hyundai claim it’s a huge improvement on the security of current key zappers, many so easily hacked with relay theft and signal jammers.