2014 Hyundai Elantra Se on 2040-cars

Auto blog

2019 Hyundai Santa Fe can be unlocked and started with a fingerprint

Hyundai has unveiled a system that lets drivers unlock and start a vehicle using their fingerprints. The tech is built into the door handle and ignition button of the new 2019 Santa Fe SUV, showcased at an auto show in China last week. Multiple owners will be able to register their encrypted fingerprint data for the same vehicle, according to the South Korean automaker. And, depending on the person, the car will then automatically adjust seat positions and the angle of the rearview mirrors. A future update could also allow the biometric system to add personalized temperature, humidity, and steering settings, Hyundai said. For now, the company is planing to limit the feature to China upon its launch in the first quarter of 2019. The original report on the feature in the Korea Herald says users can unlock or start the car "without keys," but it's unclear whether that means it can be used in complete absence of the car's key fob. Related: In China, your car could be spying on you for the government The fingerprint sensor uses human capacitance to pull off the trick, differentiating between the electricity levels in different parts of the finger to prevent hacking or faked fingerprints. Hyundai said the system — which receives your encrypted fingerprint data from the touch sensor in the handle before unlocking the car — has an error rate of 1 in 50,000. (That's the same figure touted by Apple for its Touch ID tech for iPhones, iPads and select MacBooks.) The Santa Fe's other tech includes a rear occupant alert system, which uses ultrasonic sensors to detect the movements of children in the back to avoid anyone being left behind. The car also comes equipped with Chinese internet giant Baidu's voice recognition system and a wireless phone charger. This isn't the first time fingerprints have been used to start cars, but the unlocking tech has never before been baked in to a vehicle's door handle. Tesla Model 3 owners are also already using their smartphone as a car key while the rest of the industry (including Hyundai) is busy building a virtual smartphone key standard that could popularize the tech. Elsewhere, Hertz recently brought biometric data to car rentals at Atlanta International Airport.By Saqib Shah for Engadget.Related Video:

Honda scores big in Automobile Advertising of the Year Awards [w/videos]

This year the Detroit Auto Show didn't just celebrate the automobile, it celebrated how we find out about the automobile, too. Partnering The One Club, this year introduced the 2014 One Show Automobile Advertising of the Year Award to Cobo Hall, celebrating winners in five different categories of advertising: broadcast television, online, interactive, experiential, and print/outdoor. Winners in those categories were judged by 50 creative directors and journalists, while a Public Choice category was chosen from among nearly 20,000 online votes.
Honda walked off with three of the six awards, its Hands spot taking Broadcast honors, its Sound of Honda getting the Online category and Illusions winning Public Choice. Hyundai made the grade in Interactive with Driveway Decision Maker, Fiat captured Print/Outdoor with its "Letters" ad, and Toyota's Tundra Endeavor Campaign spot and BMW's A Window into the Near Future were co-winners for Experiential.
You can watch all of the press release and winning videos below or check out all of the finalists, announced last month, for a refresher.

Hyundai Motor America CEO Dave Zuchowski was fired today

According to Automotive News, Dave Zuchowski, CEO of Hyundai Motor America, was fired today, effective immediately. Automotive News cites multiple anonymous sources that said the reason for this decision was missing the company's internal sales goals. Hyundai has confirmed in a statement that Zuchowski will be "leaving the company", without citing a specific reason for the departure. Until a new CEO is named, the American division's executive vice president and general counsel Jerry Flannery will fill the role. Flannery has been with Hyundai since 1987, and a search for a permanent replacement is already underway. According to Hyundai, this change in management is part of "a continuation of a reorganization that began late this year." Zuchowski became CEO of Hyundai Motor America in 2014, taking the reigns from John Krafcik. Krafcik left at the end of his contract, and now works for Google's autonomous car spin-off Waymo. Zuchowski has worked in the auto industry for over three decades, and was at Ford and later Mazda before coming to Hyundai. Related Video: