CaliExpress, the Flippy automated fast-food restaurant in Pasadena, California, opened in January to considerable hype for its robotic burger maker, but the restaurant has introduced another, less-heralded innovation: the ability to use facial recognition technology to swipe Pay for the meal.
CaliExpress uses the payment system of facial recognition technology company PopID. To launch it, users need to register with a selfie. They can then choose to be identified, and PopID’s facial verification will confirm the transaction.
It’s not the only fast-food chain using the technology. In January, Steak ‘N Shake, a fast-casual restaurant in the Midwest, began installing facial recognition kiosks at its 300 locations to check customers in. The chain said checking in using PopID takes two to three seconds, while checking in using a QR code or mobile app can take up to 20 seconds.
Biometric payment options are becoming increasingly common. Amazon launched handheld payment technology in 2020, and while its cashierless store experiment faltered, it installed the technology in 500 Whole Foods stores last year. Mastercard partnered with PopID to launch a facial recognition payment pilot in Brazil as early as 2022, and it was considered a success – 76% of pilot participants said they would recommend the technology to a friend.Late last year, Mastercard said it was working with NEC Brings its biometric checkout process to the Asia-Pacific region.
Dennis Gamiello, Mastercard’s executive vice president of identity products and innovation, said: “We are focused on biometrics as a secure form of authentication that replaces passwords with people, which is where we work in this area. core. Based on positive feedback from the pilot and its research, the checkout technology will enter more new markets later this year, he added.
Consumer pushback and lawsuits are growing as stores use biometrics for a variety of purposes, from payments to broader anti-theft systems.In March, an Illinois woman Suing retailer Target It is suspected that her and other customers’ biometric information was illegally collected and stored through facial recognition technology without their consent.Amazon and T-Mobile also facing legal action Related to biometric technology.
In other countries, especially China, biometric payment systems are relatively mature, judging from visitors to McDonald’s in China Ability to use facial recognition technology The system provided by Alipay pays for orders. Alipay launched biometric payment as early as 2015 and began testing the technology in KFC stores in China in 2018.
A deal PopID recently signed with J.P. Morgan PopID CEO John Miller said this is a sign of things to come in the United States, and he believes this will be a “breakthrough” year for facial recognition payment technology.
The consumer case relates to the growing importance of loyalty programs. Most fast food restaurants require consumers to provide loyalty information to receive rewards—which means taking out their phone, opening an app, finding a link to a loyalty QR code, and showing the QR code to a cashier or reader. To pay, consumers typically choose to pull out their wallet, select a credit card, and dip or tap the card, or pull out their phone, open it with Face ID, and present it to a card reader. Miller said PopID simplifies the process, allowing loyalty registration and payment to be made with the click of an on-screen button and a simple look at the camera.
“We believe our partnership with JPMorgan is a watershed moment for biometric payments as it represents the first time a leading commercial acquirer has agreed to roll out biometric payments to its commercial customers,” said Miller. “JPMorgan provides merchants and Consumers are provided with the trustworthiness and assurance needed to adopt biometric payments.”
Consumers are increasingly comfortable with biometric technology.Most people still prefer fingerprint scans to facial recognition, according to one company PYMENTS 2023 Survey, but age is a factor. Gen Z consumers are more open to facial recognition than fingerprint scanning or entering passwords.
Juniper Research predicts that the global biometric payment market will grow by more than 100% from 2024 to 2028. By 2025, $3 trillion Mobile, biometric secure payments.
To be sure, security concerns and the potential for hacking due to sharing biometric profiles remain important to evolving usage and conversations.
Sheldon Jacobson, a computer science professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, said he sees biometrics as part of a continuum of technology that extends from credit card payments to smartphones. “The next natural step is to simply use facial recognition,” he said.
He said concerns about privacy and facial recognition were overblown. “We have always voluntarily given up our privacy,” Jacobson said. “We post on Facebook, we use social media, we basically give up our privacy. I always tell people, everything about you is already there.”
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