A team of engineers in Japan is working on
a device that can recognize your butt.
A few years ago, a mechanical engineer named Shigeomi Koshimizu,
along with his team at the Advanced Institute of Industrial
Technology in Tokyo, designed a biometric cover for car seats. The
sheet of fabric, with 360 embedded sensors creates an individual
profile of each driver’s bum, based on size, shape, weight
distribution, and pressure points. That profile could be stored in
the car’s computer system, and only drivers with registered bums
would be able to start the car.
The sensor sheets recognized drivers correctly about 98% of the time
in lab tests. Koshimizu had also considered using facial recognition
or palm scanners on the steering wheel to identify drivers, but
found those methods “overbearing,” according to the Wall Street
Journal. It will likely be a few years before they would be ready
for a commercial product.