“Biometrics opens up completely new horizons for the mobility of tomorrow,” explains Dr. Claudio Longo, Head of Research and Advanced Engineering at Continental.
Beginning on January 7, 2025, Continental will provide a glimpse into the near future of mobility at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. The “Intelligent Vehicle Experience Car” is a specifically built show vehicle that showcases technological advancements for communication between drivers and their cars.
Within the next three to five years, these solutions may be put into series production. The display at CES 2025, the most significant technological trade exhibition in the world, focuses on external communication between automobiles and humans. Among other things, it emphasizes touchless, intuitive biometric access to the vehicle.
This implies that the car can identify its users before they even enter, analyzing their facial expressions and body language to determine what to do. For instance, it can open and start the car or proactively open the tailgate in the parking lot of the store.
More significantly, it detects those who are not permitted to operate the car and might approach it with illegal intent. In this instance, a warning is triggered and the doors stay locked.
Continental’s demo car is a concrete look at the software-defined vehicle, the automobile that is shaped and managed by software—and at the same time ushers in the era of biometrics for future vehicle generations. “Biometrics opens up completely new horizons for the mobility of tomorrow,” explains Dr. Claudio Longo, Head of Research and Advanced Engineering at Continental.
The interaction between humans and machines in vehicles is crucial for a positive user experience. In the future, vehicles will also interact with their users even before the doors are opened. They will be able to interpret intentions, movements and facial expressions. For Jean-François Tarabbia, Head of Architecture and Network Solutions at Continental, intuitive access is a key component: “The car is on track to become a smart device, similar to a cell phone, which will use biometric technologies to take the user experience to a new level of security and comfort.”
Continental is already one of the leaders in smart device based access solutions for series production by major automotive manufacturers. The innovations in the demo car at CES show what will be possible in the very near future.
Biometric technology: personalized interaction between people and their cars
The automobile is quickly becoming a software-defined vehicle. An increasing number of functions rely on software. A harmonious, uniform, and most importantly, intuitive interaction with the car is necessary for a positive user experience: for the welfare of the occupants, for their comfort, and, last but not least, for safety. This is to guarantee that the expansion of features, new technologies, and creative assistance systems do not cause discomfort.
The acronym HMI is essential to the success of mobility concepts both now and in the future. In order for humans and vehicles to interact intuitively, human-machine interfaces are essential.
Approaching the car and receiving assistance before getting inside is the first step in the user experience. To manage the collaboration between the vehicle and the user, outside HMI with auditory and visual input is crucial for confirming the car’s state.
Continental’s intelligent vehicle is specifically designed to address this initial, vital interaction between drivers and their vehicles. As is well known from the use of facial recognition in many smartphone apps, it leverages the benefits of biometric recognition to accomplish this.
Customers who are already used to specific user experiences from other contexts and who anticipate such convenience solutions from a premium product like a car are essential for the success of future intelligent interaction systems. But unlike earlier smartphone generations, the intelligent car goes one step further: it recognizes context, predicts the user’s intents, and customizes the encounter.
A wide range of functions are possible within the context of the vehicle-user relationship on the basis of biometrics.
Among other things, Continental’s demo car demonstrates approach detection (the car detects approaching persons), user identification (the car identifies authorized persons by means of facial recognition), intention recognition (the car recognizes the intention of an approaching person, for example by interpreting a hand movement in the vicinity of the door), and intuitive trunk access (the trunk opens automatically when an authorized person looks in the direction of the tailgate for a certain period of time).
In the first generation of this innovation, the opening impulse is still triggered by a slight kick in the direction of the rear bumper.
Artificial Intelligence powers the new generation of cars
Continental blends the vehicle’s existing sensors and artificial intelligence algorithms for these purposes for a variety of uses. For instance, CoSmA 360-degree cameras that enable parking features can be used in conjunction with proven ultra-wideband radar sensors to detect and identify individuals as part of Continental’s smart device-based access system.
During CES, the demo car will highlight useful and, in certain cases, proven technologies that Continental is constantly refining to satisfy evolving user needs and expectations.
It also tackles particular issues like safeguarding private information and managing energy usage as efficiently as possible to prevent battery exhaustion. Throughout an automobile’s lifecycle, new intelligent features can be wirelessly “over the air” integrated into the vehicle thanks to the link to a secure cloud.
Continental at CES 2025
Continental will showcase its latest technologies at a private structure exhibit in Central Plaza across from the Las Vegas Convention Center from Tuesday, January 7 through Friday, January 10. The technology company has numerous solutions that highlight mobility innovations, from the road to the cloud. An invitation-only media event has been scheduled for January 7.
