Jaguar Land Rover is developing a system to unlock its vehicles via selfie.
According to a patent published last month, car-mounted cameras use will use facial recognition and gait analysis to identify drivers.
Most modern vehicles rely on keyless push-button entry or automatic-unlocking fobs. But those systems, according to the automaker, are ripe for theft or loss. Someone's face or walking style is not.
"It is an ongoing challenge of the automotive industry to improve vehicle functionality and design and to further enhance the sophisticated feel of vehicles, without significant additional cost," Jaguar said. "In particular, vehicle personalization, where vehicle functions and features can be aligned with specific user requirements, is an increasingly common aim."
With that in mind, the luxury car maker devised a program that uses still and moving images to ensure thieves cannot fool the system with a simple photograph of the owner.
The technology works simultaneously to match the driver's face and walk as they approach the vehicle. An additional key fob identification module works in combination "to provide a more robust and higher-security door access system," according to the patent.
Cameras only record when the car positively IDs the registered key fob in the vicinity; the built-in recording devices do not act as a security cam or driver assist function.
Multiple people can register their personal characteristics, allowing family and friends to unlock the vehicle, as well.
A Jaguar Land Rover spokeswoman declined PCMag's request for comment, saying that the company "does not comment on future technology patents."
The company last year teamed with NASA for Mind Sense research, which tests whether a car can effectively read a driver's brain activity and identify when they daydream or feel sleepy. Using a series of steering-wheel sensors, an onboard computer monitors the operator's continual and distinct brainwaves to assess their level of focus.
Editor's Note: This story was updated at 9:50 a.m. ET with a response from Jaguar Land Rover.