SAE EDGE Research Reports provide state-of-the-art and state-of-industry examinations of the most significant topics in mobility engineering. SAE EDGE contributors are experts from research, academia, and industry who have come together to explore and define the most critical advancements, challenges, and future direction in areas such as vehicle automation, unmanned aircraft, IoT and connectivity, cybersecurity, advanced propulsion, and advanced manufacturing.

Facial recognition software (FRS) is a form of biometric security that detects a face, analyzes it, converts it to data, and then matches it with images in a database. This technology is currently being used in vehicles for safety and convenience features, such as detecting driver fatigue, ensuring ride share drivers are wearing a face covering, or unlocking the vehicle. Public transportation hubs can also use FRS to identify missing persons, intercept domestic terrorism, deter theft, and achieve other security initiatives. However, biometric data is sensitive and there are numerous remaining questions about how to implement and regulate FRS in a way that maximizes its safety and security potential while simultaneously ensuring individual’s right to privacy, data security, and technology-based equality. Legal Issues Facing Automated Vehicles, Facial Recognition, and Individual Rights seeks to highlight the benefits of using FRS in public and private transportation technology and addresses some of the legitimate concerns regarding its use by private corporations and government entities, including law enforcement, in public transportation hubs and traffic stops. Constitutional questions, including First, Forth, and Ninth Amendment issues, also remain unanswered. FRS is now a permanent part of transportation technology and society; with meaningful legislation and conscious engineering, it can make future transportation safer and more convenient. Click here to access the full SAE EDGETM Research Report portfolio. https://doi.org/10.4271/EPR2022016

Data privacy questions are particularly timely in the automotive industry as—now more than ever before—vehicles are collecting and sharing data at great speeds and quantities. Though connectivity and vehicle-to-vehicle technologies are perhaps the most obvious, smart city infrastructure, maintenance, and infotainment systems are also relevant in the data privacy law discourse. Facial Recognition Software and Privacy Law in Transportation Technology considers the current legal landscape of privacy law and the unanswered questions that have surfaced in recent years. A survey of the limited recent federal case law and statutory law, as well as examples of comprehensive state data privacy laws, is included. Perhaps most importantly, this report simplifies the balancing act that manufacturers and consumers are performing by complying with data privacy laws, sharing enough data to maximize safety and convenience, and protecting personal information. Click here to access the full SAE EDGETM Research Report portfolio. https://doi.org/10.4271/EPR2024011

" Facial recognition technology-which can verify or identify an individual from a facial image-has rapidly improved in performance and now can surpass human performance in some cases. The Department of Commerce has convened stakeholders to review privacy issues related to commercial use of this technology, which GAO was also asked to examine. This report examines (1) uses of facial recognition technology, (2) privacy issues that have been raised, (3) proposed best practices and industry privacy policies, and (4) potentially applicable privacy protections under federal law. The scope of this report includes use of the technology in commercial settings but not by government agencies. To address these objectives, GAO analyzed laws, regulations, and documents; interviewed federal agencies; and interviewed officials and reviewed privacy policies and proposals of companies, trade groups, and privacy groups. Companies were selected because they were among the largest in industries identified as potential major users of the technology, and privacy groups were selected because they had written on this issue. "

Face recognition technologies (FRTs) have many practical security-related purposes, but advocacy groups and individuals have expressed apprehensions about their use. This report highlights the high-level privacy and bias implications of FRT systems. The authors propose a heuristic with two dimensions -- consent status and comparison type -- to help determine a proposed FRT's level of privacy and accuracy. They also identify privacy and bias concerns.

Facial recognition technology, which can verify or identify an individual from a facial image, has rapidly improved in performance and now can surpass human performance in some cases. The Department of Commerce has convened stakeholders to review privacy issues related to commercial use of this technology, which GAO was also asked to examine. This report examines (1) uses of facial recognition technology, (2) privacy issues that have been raised, (3) proposed best practices and industry privacy policies, and (4) potentially applicable privacy protections under federal law. The scope of this report includes use of the technology in commercial settings but not by government agencies. GAO makes no recommendations in this report. However, GAO suggested in GAO-13-663 that Congress consider strengthening the consumer privacy framework to reflect changes in technology and the marketplace, and facial recognition technology is such a change. GAO maintains that the current privacy framework in commercial settings warrants reconsideration.

This book is open access. This book undertakes a multifaceted and integrated examination of biometric identification, including the current state of the technology, how it is being used, the key ethical issues, and the implications for law and regulation. The five chapters examine the main forms of contemporary biometrics–fingerprint recognition, facial recognition and DNA identification– as well the integration of biometric data with other forms of personal data, analyses key ethical concepts in play, including privacy, individual autonomy, collective responsibility, and joint ownership rights, and proposes a raft of principles to guide the regulation of biometrics in liberal democracies. Biometric identification technology is developing rapidly and being implemented more widely, along with other forms of information technology. As products, services and communication moves online, digital identity and security is becoming more important. Biometric identification facilitates this transition. Citizens now use biometrics to access a smartphone or obtain a passport; law enforcement agencies use biometrics in association with CCTV to identify a terrorist in a crowd, or identify a suspect via their fingerprints or DNA; and companies use biometrics to identify their customers and employees. In some cases the use of biometrics is governed by law, in others the technology has developed and been implemented so quickly that, perhaps because it has been viewed as a valuable security enhancement, laws regulating its use have often not been updated to reflect new applications. However, the technology associated with biometrics raises significant ethical problems, including in relation to individual privacy, ownership of biometric data, dual use and, more generally, as is illustrated by the increasing use of biometrics in authoritarian states such as China, the potential for unregulated biometrics to undermine fundamental principles of liberal democracy. Resolving these ethical problems is a vital step towards more effective regulation.