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Facial Recognition Might Be Coming To Your Car

Posted by timothy on from the ok-but-how-does-it-fail? dept.

cartechboy writes What if you got into your car and you had to authenticate that it was you behind the wheel? That might be what's coming in the near future as Ford's working with Intel to bring facial recognition to the car. The idea would be to improve safety and in-car tech with this system which is being called Project Mobil. When someone enters a Project Mobil-equipped car the system uses front-facing cameras to authenticate the driver. If the driver can't be authenticated it'll send a photo to the vehicle owner's phone asking for permission for this person to drive the vehicle. Once identified, the car can then automatically adjust certain settings to the driver's preference. This could also theoretically allow parents to control how loud their kids listen to the music while driving, how fast they can drive, and even simply monitor them driving. Obviously this NSA-like surveillance tech is a bit creepy on some levels, but there could be a lot of terrific applications for it. While only an experiment, don't be surprised if your dashboard stares back at you eventually.

16 of 131 comments (clear)

  1. First the NSA by Cryacin · · Score: 2

    Now big momma is watchin you!

    --
    Science advances one funeral at a time- Max Planck
    1. Re:First the NSA by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Just another way to monitor us every goddamn motherfucking minute of every goddamn motherfucking day of our goddamn motherfucking lives, like we're all little children, or criminals in prison, or animals in a zoo. What's even MORE FUN that that is that we get to pay for this stupid shit! It's a 'solution in search of a problem' and desperately needs to have a giant Gallagher mallet applied liberally to it, along with the fucking morons who thought of this, the NSA, and every goddamn motherfucking gor-sucking politician in the goddamn motherfucking world who thinks shit like this is a good idea. How about a car that is inexpensive, reliable, gets good fuel economy (or can be recharged in less than an hour and doesn't cost half it's purchase price to have it's battery pack replaced in 5 years) and is overall just good transportation instead of a goddamn motherfucking lifestyle that consequently tracks your every goddamn move? Just fucking leave us all alone! All we want to do is live our lives without being hassled by goddamn motherfucking power-hungry control freaks! JUST FUCK THE FUCK OFF AND LEAVE US ALONE!!!

  2. In 2001... by CohibaVancouver · · Score: 4, Funny

    "Open the hatchback door, Ford."

    "I'm sorry, Dave. I'm afraid I can't do that."

  3. Re:What Security? by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 2

    1. Take picture of driver
    2. Print mask
    3. Wear mask

    As someone who has worked in computer vision, this is trivial to detect. You can either use two offset cameras, or take two photos with a single camera with a second or so delay if the target is moving even slightly. Then use the two photos to create a 3D stereoscopic image. If you want more security, you could detect small changes in facial expression, or look for blinks. Most cars already have weight sensors in the front seats, to better deploy airbags based on the size of the driver/passenger, so that weight info could also be checked for correlation with the facial image.

  4. Tired? by Anonymous+Brave+Guy · · Score: 2

    There is already technology available in some high-end models that will monitor the driver and take steps to warn them if they appear to be losing concentration. That technology is surely going to save lives sooner or later, given the amount of road accidents caused by tiredness or falling asleep at the wheel.

    I'm as concerned about creepy surveillance and illusory security as much as the next geek, but image recognition technology does have positive applications as well.

    --
    If you disagree, post your argument. (-1, Overrated) isn't your personal censorship tool for views you don't like.
  5. WTF over?! by Charcharodon · · Score: 4, Insightful
    what the hell is wrong with a key? If that key is just too heavy for you to carry how about a key pad to unlock everything?

    I don't need the fucking car to update facebook, check to see if I shaved, adjust all the settings, make sure I'm not drunk, or ask the real owner whether or not I can drive it, and then not work if there isn't a WiFi or cell signal present. (I'm sorry but you do not have permission to operate this vehicle as zombies are trying to break in.).

    I want my car to be a car, I don't need an ever bigger fucking cell phone to complicate up my life, and not to mention charge me yet another monthly service fee, along with spying on me to send the info to the gov't and marketers.

    Eat a bag of dicks Ford.

    1. Re:WTF over?! by Bite+The+Pillow · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Your opposition has been noted. Meanwhile, development continues as if you said nothing.

      That's because you are not representative of the market.

      Do you stop by a dealership every 6 months and explain that you would buy if it weren't a computer? Or do you not even consider Ford products? After considering, you may realize that you really aren't the market at all.

      So, how do you buy a modern car not a computer after that's the only option? Because I'm not the market, and I would love to disrupt this. By buying what I want, instead of typing angrily where Ford is unlikely to see it.

  6. In other news by RotateLeftByte · · Score: 2

    Sales of Chewing Gum and Duct Tape to owners of new Fords rise by 10000%

    Being serious for a moment, is there really any demand from the public for this?
    Is his being driven by the lawmakers who are frankly desparate to stop Drunks from getting behind the wheel?

    Will the car refuse to start if the camera is obscured and the driver can't be identified?
    As the Car not the driver seems to be the boss then who owns the pictures?
    Who says that the pictures won't be sent to the NSA? Can you be sure.

    This is not something I'd want in any car I drove.

    --
    I'd rather be riding my '63 Triumph T120.
    1. Re:In other news by jmcvetta · · Score: 2

      Is this being driven by the lawmakers who are frankly desperate to crush all remaining vestiges of individual freedom?

      FTFY

  7. Judged by your car... by MindPrison · · Score: 3, Funny

    You: Google Car - Start please!
    Car: Access denied, user not recognized.
    You: (tries to get closer to the camera). Google CAR! START PLEASE!
    Car: Access denied, user not recognized.
    You: #%!" *ss car, GOOGLE CAR - START PLEASE!!!
    Car: Voice unreadable, can't understand the word *ss car.
    You: (getting mad, swearing excessively). GOOGLE CAR - START THE F******* CAR RIGHT NOW! (stares into the camera like a mad man).
    Car: User Too Ugly Error 404

    (now, imagine what happened to the car)

    --
    What this world is coming to - is for you and me to decide.
  8. Law enforcement .... by PPH · · Score: 3, Interesting

    ... needs evidence of who was driving a car when it is caught in an infraction by automated systems. In some jurisdictions, not having clear evidence of the identity of a driver is sufficient to have the case thrown out. This is how they will get their evidence.

    If the car won't start without positive facial recognition, that rules out the duct tape over the lens fix.

    --
    Have gnu, will travel.
  9. Re:Car servicing? Valet? by FatdogHaiku · · Score: 2

    Also, if you get car jacked the guy insists on stealing your phone so he won't have the new ride disabled on him...

    --
    You have the right to remain sentient. If you give up the right to remain sentient, you will be elected to public office
  10. I think it sounds cool. abusable, but cool. by shadowrat · · Score: 2

    I think it sounds kind of cool. I really don't have any issues at all with facial recognition as long as it's done in a responsible manner. The data should be volatile and discarded when it's no longer needed. If the car is simply comparing the person behind the wheel to a small set of people it knows and then discarding the data, that seems like excellent tech to me.

    even the idea that it might send my picture to the owner of the car doesn't bother me too much. i am after all in someone else's car. Again, it only doesn't bother me if I know that the picture isn't stored, and once it leaves the closed system of the car... Well, i don't have any real assurance that it isn't going to get stored somehow. So it's a little stickier there. Still, if it's just going to the owner and not staying on a server after delivery it sounds ok.

    Now, if the car keeps a record of every person who's ever been in it and shares that with the automakers, that's creepy. it's double plus creepy if it also sends it along to the government.

    1. Re:I think it sounds cool. abusable, but cool. by jeIlomizer · · Score: 2

      The main problem is that you'll likely never be able to find out what the car is doing, so you can't trust it.

      --
      If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
  11. No way I'd accept that. by Ungrounded+Lightning · · Score: 2

    The last thing I need, if I'm injured in a way that disfigures my face, is a car that won't let me start it to drive to the emergency room.

    That's right up there with the federal experiment, back in the '60s or so, with mandating seatbelt and seat weight sensors that interlocked with the starter, so you can't start it if all the passengers aren't belted in.

    (I, and about five of my friends, were very luck my car dated from before that mandate, the time we were visiting a friend who worked in a trainyard, my car stalled across a track, a train came {slowly but inexorably} around the sharp curve, and my right-front passenger unbelted in preparation to bail if I couldn't get it going again. We didn't have enough time to all bail ...)

    --
    Bantam Dominique roosters crow a four-note song. Once you've heard it as "Happy BIRTHday" you can't NOT hear it that way
  12. Re:Reliability? by gtall · · Score: 2

    No, it won't. It will send a picture to your insurance company and ask the company if the person behind the wheel should be driving the car. It will start out as you suggested, but the first insurance company to wise up will make Ford a business proposal. We'll get treated to the usual suits saying the usual things about "the future" and what-not. And the result will be we get screwed...yet again.