New biometric motorcycle parking system that scans your face and licence plate

TECHNOLOGY news, and biometrics company ’Unioncommunity’ has decided to integrate a biometric identification process into motorcycle parking machines, for now, dubbed Ubio-X MPass. 

Biometrics, if you weren’t sure, is the use of biological data to authenticate identity, just like using your fingerprint or face to unlock your phone.

Aimed primarily at the South Asian market (for now), this ‘parking solution’ scans your licence plate and face, before opening the gate and letting you in. It’s noted as a means of preventing motorcycle theft by associating the vehicle with its driver.

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It’s boasted as having a super-quick identification time, and able to process up to 15 motorcycles or scooters per minute - pretty quick when you think of the time you can sometimes spend staring gormlessly at a machine whilst it churns out a ticket. That’s if you even need a ticket on your motorcycle.

Now, if you’re sensing a tad bit of scepticism here, you’d be right. *puts on tin-foil hat* In an age of data-farming and facial recognition, I can’t help but question why there’s a sudden rush for external monitoring systems being set up all over the place to see what we’re all doing at all times. It just doesn’t sit right with me.

Is this really a motorcycle parking solution?

I’ve got a few questions about this biometrics system being added to a parking machine too, and the answers being provided by this machine are ones I’m not sure anybody is asking. 

Why does a parking machine need to know what I look like? What is it scanning if I’m wearing a full-face helmet, and how can it identify anything if you can only really see my eyes? Would I need to remove my helmet to get through the gate? How does all of this prevent theft in any way? 

I do understand that it might just relinquish the need for parking tickets, storing your face on a system that recognises that you have a valid reason to be there, have paid your parking tickets and don’t have an outstanding warrant for your arrest. But, still.

Apparently, the system is initially being developed for Vietnam, where motorcycles are by far the most popular mode of transportation, and will be installed at a “trunk manufacturer” in early March. Perhaps this is some form of employee identification for checking in to work on time - but the ongoing questions remain, and I highly doubt all this effort would be put in for clocking-in employees at the gate for work. 

Unioncommunity biometric parking - sounds a bit authoritarian 

Unioncommunity CEO Shin Yosik said

“We will expand the parking management system by combining new types of technologies that have not been seen in the biometric based access control market, and provide all parking-related solution in an integrated manner.”

Worth noting that Unioncommunity also has a ‘UBio Alpeta integrated security solution’ to manage time and attendance records, too.

I don’t know about you, but parking is straightforward enough as it is, and this isn’t creating any solutions - it’s creating more problems! I’d rather faff with a ticket for now.

Watch the video of this face-scanning-gate in action: