Dreamtech to supply first fingerprint recognition module to Hyundai Motors... to be mounted on Santa Fe for the Chinese market

Dreamtech, an electronic component maker looking to enter the KOSPI market next year, will supply fingerprint recognition modules to Hyundai Motors. The South Korea's top automaker will utilize this module to form a smart fingerprint authentication access and start-up system. This is the first time that a mass-production vehicle is equipped with a fingerprint sensor.

According to the industry on December 18th, Hyundai Motors will equip a new Santa Fe "Shunda", to be launched in China in the first quarter of the next year, with a Dreamtech fingerprint recognition module. The smart biometric authentication access system and startup system that Hyundai Motor announced as the first in the world on December 17th are composed of Dreamtech modules.

Its smart fingerprint authentication vehicle can be started by checking the pre-registered drivers' fingerprints. The fingerprint recognition sensor has been applied to the vehicle door and the start button, respectively, and checks whether the driver is registered.

The system is capacitive. The recognition is authenticated by checking the current flowing in the human body. It is impossible to counterfeit by using a 2D method, such as copying the fingerprint with the adhesive tape, because the protruding part (mountain) of the fingerprint and the grooved part (valley) of that are confirmed in 3D utilizing the difference in capacitance.

The probability of opening its doors or starting the vehicle with unregistered fingerprints is extremely low at 1/50,000. Such a level of security is five times higher than the current smart key. Hyundai Motors has been awarded the technology certification for the first time in the automobile industry through collaboration with Dreamtech.

Hyundai Motors plans to put the system first in the first quarter of the next year to the Santa Fe for the Chinese market and review its expansion into the global market.

The major members of Dreamtech, which was established in 1998, are from Hyundai Motors and its related partners. In 2007, it was acquired by semiconductor distributor Uniquest. Their head office is in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province. Dreamtech recorded sales of 679.4 billion won and operating profit of 40.6 billion won last year. This is an increase of 22% and 867% respectively from the previous year. Customers include Hyundai Motors and Samsung Electronics. Recently, it has also entered the smart medical device business. It has planned to be listed on the KOSPI market; however, the plan was withdrawn last month due to economic uncertainties both domestically and abroad. They plan to go public again in early next year.