A new report from Technavio forecasts that the global automotive biometric vehicle access system market will grow at a CAGR of 19.55 percent through 2020.

Technavio automotive analysts highlighted the following four factors that are contributing to the growth of the global automotive biometric vehicle access system market:

• Vulnerability in existing keyless entry system
• Issues with car insurance for vehicles geared with keyless entry systems
• Regulatory impact
• Rapidly increasing electronic content per vehicle and penetration of biometric technology in various other industries

Vulnerability in existing keyless entry system

Traditionally, vehicles were equipped with conventional mechanical keys to lock or unlock vehicle doors. The major causes of vehicle theft stemmed from the fact that mechanical keys were stolen or misplaced by the driver inside the vehicle. The advent of electronic keyless entry systems changed the situation drastically because vehicle access is now linked to electromagnetic frequency and communication wavelengths. The adoption of keyless entry systems drastically reduced vehicle thefts, says Technavio.

However, according to Siddharth Jaiswal, a lead analyst at Technavio for research on automotive electronics, “Although keyless entry system offers more security than mechanical keys, the use of simple hacking devices helps organized crime break into vehicles by hacking the communication between the vehicle and keyless entry systems. These vulnerabilities may result in greater acceptance of biometrics for vehicle access, thereby driving the market over the years.”

Issues with car insurance for vehicles geared with keyless entry systems

Keyless entry systems witnessed rapid adoption due to the convenience offered by the technology. However, organized crime uses high-technology key decoders to break into vehicles. According to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, it has become very easy for thieves to bypass security by hacking into the signals transmitted between the vehicle and key fob. Although automakers have been actively trying to upgrade software to prevent this, hackers can still manage to electronically bypass such safeguards in some instances.

This has raised doubts on vehicle security not only among the consumers, but also among insurance providers. According to the U.S. National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB), the incidents of vehicle theft by hacking into keyless systems drastically climbed during 2013-‘14 due to easy availability of tools and devices that can break into this system. Such tools were earlier restricted to law enforcement agencies, mechanics and body shops. However, their availability in various online shopping sites on the internet has raised concerns.

Regulatory impact

Regulations play a critical role in shaping the automotive security market. The significant use of remote and passive keyless entry systems in automobiles has led various regulatory bodies to improve and standardize vehicle entry systems. Present day keyless entry systems communicate with vehicles through microwave or radio frequency. The latest technologies use smartphones or smartwatches to unlock or lock vehicle doors but leave wide room for the system to be hacked. This is leading to higher security requirements and the need for standardization has become inevitable.

Similarly, in terms of automotive keyless entry systems, government regulations have imposed quality requirements across the value chain to improve vehicle security. In terms of cybersecurity, various industries, such as healthcare, aerospace and defense, have established industry and quality standards (such as MISRA C and CERT C) as common industry practices.

According to Technavio, the growing use of automotive electronics should usher in the widespread use of biometrics in the automotive space. Significant economies of scale may help to introduce biometrics to the entry-level vehicle segment. However, such developments may happen well beyond the forecast period.

It is common knowledge that the automotive domain adopts robust and mature technology early on. Therefore, when biometrics technology gains higher maturity levels in other industries such as banking, the means of identification through biometric technology may become common and biometrics could well become the primary means to authenticate users.

“In addition, the expanding use of electronic gadgets such as smartphones and the online lifestyle should see widespread biometric adoption during the forecast period,” added Siddharth.

The research study covers the present scenario and growth prospects of the global automotive biometric vehicle access system market for 2016-2020. The market size has been calculated based on the revenue generated from sale of biometric vehicle access systems at OEM level.