Balancing Biometrics and Data Privacy in Next-Gen Vehicle Safety

BY: Frank Judge, Director, DMS/IMS Product Area, Magna Electronics?

If there’s one thing we can reasonably anticipate about the next generation of vehicles, it’s that they are expected to be considerably safer to operate. For instance, if you’ve driven a car manufactured in the past five years, you may have noticed the increasing prevalence of advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) and other innovative safety features.???

However, the ADAS features most of us have become accustomed to in recent years only represent the beginning of a much broader and more radical transformation of the mobility sector. This transformation includes the use of rapidly advancing biometric technologies, which may begin to blur the line between safety and personalization.???

In theory, it’s easy to see how biometric tools like fingerprint locking, facial recognition, and even real-time heart monitoring could lead to an incredible paradigm shift in vehicle safety. By designing and deploying systems that are not only more accurate and secure but also integrate biometrics to provide a uniquely personalized user experience (UX), each vehicle on the road could be better suited to protect its driver and passengers.?

In practice, however, it may not be that simple.???

More specifically, if vehicle manufacturers and software developers hope to leverage advanced biometrics successfully in the next generation of vehicles, they’ll first need to address a significant challenge: data privacy. Consumers have long been concerned about how their data is being collected and secured, and these concerns are increasing alongside the rise of artificial intelligence (AI).?

Trust in the industry regarding data privacy is currently low, with some experts expressing serious concerns about the protection of consumer data in new vehicles.?

With this in mind, improving driver safety through personalization while simultaneously protecting consumer data becomes a critical challenge. Additionally, designing a personalized UX requires overcoming the hurdle of consumer trust to ensure they are comfortable providing their biometrics.?

I believe the best place to start is with education. We need to better inform consumers about the specific advantages of biometrics for vehicle safety and their potential to overcome the limitations of outdated safety features.?

Take the traditional airbag, for example. For decades, the industry has been mass-producing and installing standard airbags that, despite their relative efficacy, are inherently biased toward protecting drivers of an “average” physical size and build. This bias puts those outside the average at an increased risk of injury or even death.?

Additionally, we can’t build trust without first providing transparency. Consumers need to know exactly how their biometric information is being used to improve their safety and the steps being taken to secure their personal data once it’s collected. Without a clearly defined and compelling use case, along with transparency around data privacy measures, many consumers are likely to ignore or opt out of these features entirely.?

?Fortunately, we are currently living in a golden age of innovation. With access to increasingly secure blockchain and AI-based technologies, utilizing and securing a wide range of biometric data for vehicle safety is becoming more feasible by the day.?

Will it be a swift and painless transformation? Almost certainly not. However, if we can work together as an industry to improve education and transparency, and cooperate with regulatory institutions, solving for both safety and privacy in the next generation of mobility is far from an impossible feat.?

We'd love to hear your thoughts! How do you think the automotive industry can best address data privacy concerns while leveraging biometrics for enhanced vehicle safety? Share your insights and join the conversation in the comments below.?