This is in addition to Baidu voice recognition & Qi wireless charging there.
Korean marque Hyundai have introduced new fingerprint unlock & start features for their flagship SUV, the Santa Fe, in time for the 2019 model year. But before you go to our Showroom to get the best deal on a new Santa Fe, we should clarify that this convenience feature is only available on the Santa Fe in China.
Further, this feature can’t be integrated into the Santa Fe you have on your drive, either. The Santa Fe in China is actually different from our Santa Fe, and indeed different from the Santa Fe that’s sold in Hyundai’s home market. It does however get the same Rear Occupant Alert that should theoretically prevent children & pets from being left behind accidentally.
The Santa Fe’s fingerprint unlock is integrated into the door handles, the first time such a system has been implemented in such a way. It can recognise multiple fingerprints as to allow, say, an entire family full access to the SUV, and it will even connect electric seat & mirror settings to the different fingers. Hyundai says that in the future, the fingerprint recognition system may be able to integrate personalised climate control settings too, meaning that all you have to do is reach for the door handle and the car will configure itself perfectly for you.
The fingerprint scanning system is a capacitive system, which tech rag Engadget says prevents fingerprint hacks & faked prints. The system is capable of differentiating the electricity levels on different parts of the finger, which results in a fail rate of just 1-in-50,000.
And that’s not the only smart-tech integrated into the Chinese-market MY19 Hyundai Santa Fe. The wireless smartphone charging isn’t much of a surprise, but while we recognise and expect to find things like Apple CarPlay & Android Auto, the Chinese-market model gets Baidu voice recognition software.
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