FORVIA and Smart Eye unveil in-car iris and facial biometric authentication

FORVIA, a global leader in automotive technologies and sustainable mobility solutions, and Smart Eye, the leading provider of human insight AI to the automotive industry, recently showcased their latest and world-first innovation of secure biometric authentication in vehicles using iris and face recognition technology at Auto Shanghai in April.

Leveraging iris and face recognition via the existing Driving Monitoring System (DMS) camera, for strong customer authentication, unlocks new in-car use cases. It is now possible seamlessly and in complete safety to secure payments without additional user input. This feature is especially useful for identification purposes for Apps in Appning by FORVIA Apps Market. A growing catalogue with over 200 apps, already integrated in 32 car brands from 13 OEMs.

“We are thrilled to collaborate with Smart Eye to introduce this groundbreaking biometric authentication technology. This innovation not only enhances the user experience by enabling seamless and secure payments but also opens a myriad of new possibilities for in-car applications. We are excited to showcase this world-first technology at Auto Shanghai and demonstrate how it can transform the automotive industry.” said Cynthia Li, Strategy Vice-president at FORVIA.

“Together with FORVIA, we’ve developed a way to perform secure biometric authentication using the same camera already in place for driver monitoring. By combining iris and facial recognition, we can support features like in-car payments and personalized access without adding complexity to the vehicle architecture,” said Detlef Wilke, Vice President Innovation and Strategic Partnerships job title at Smart Eye.

Since initiating a technical collaboration in 2021, with a strategic partnership announced in 2023, FORVIA and Smart Eye have been diligently collaborating on multiple AI-driven projects based on driver behaviour to create personalized and safe in-car experiences. This project, the result of a focused and fast paced effort, delivers secure biometric authentication in-car using the DMS camera, and is RFQ-ready.