Just Face It, This Will Keep Your Car Safe

There are many types of car security systems, ranging from audible alarms to more advanced immobilizers and trackers. But what most people have is the basic security offered by a key or a fob. Joao Vitor Freitas da Costa is a hardware hacker that lives in São Paulo, Brazil, which happens to have very high rates of vehicle thefts. So da Costa is familiar with the tactics of local thieves that frequently steal keys by force or pick-pocketing to make off with a vehicle.

That completely circumvents basic security measures, making life easy for crooks. But da Costa came up with an idea that would put control back in the hands of car owners. He built a facial recognition system that prevents a car from starting — even with the correct key or fob — unless the owner is physically sitting in the driver’s seat. Best of all, it is an inexpensive do-it-yourself solution that just about anyone could implement.

The custom security solution makes use of the tiny, yet powerful, Arduino Nicla Vision development board. These boards are just 22.86 millimeters on each side and come equipped with a two megapixel color image sensor, as well as an STM32H747AII6 dual Arm Cortex-M7/M4 microcontroller and a megabyte of RAM. That is more than sufficient to run a tinyML computer vision algorithm completely on-device, which is exactly what da Costa did.

A neural network classifier was developed and trained to recognize the face of the vehicle’s owner. To prevent false positives, the owner’s face must be recognized for ten consecutive seconds to unlock the security system. After that requirement has been met, a relay is activated that connects the car’s battery which allows it to start normally by using the key. But if the owner is not present, the vehicle is not going anywhere, even with the correct key in the ignition.

Even by powering the system with a simple USB power bank, the device could run for several days. There are, of course, some better options available, like powering the system from the vehicle’s battery, or only switching the system’s power on before one needs to start the vehicle. But sometimes simpler is better. Given the low cost and simple installation process, da Costa’s solution could be a big hit in the developing world in particular, which also happens to have some of the highest rates of vehicle theft.

While the facial recognition system may be a pain if you are on your way to a Halloween party, that could be well worth it if it saves your car from being stolen one day. If you would like some more details on how you could replicate this setup yourself, be sure to give the video a watch.