No cards required: Facial recognition payment launched in China

Paying without cash, card or mobile devices is now a possibility. A fast food restaurant in Hangzhou City, China has introduced a facial recognition payment system.
Named “Smile to Pay”, the pilot system was launched by Ant Financial an affiliate company of Alibaba Group, a Chinese e-commerce company.
A 3D webcam recognizes the customer’s facial features and links it to their online payment account. The customer then has to confirm the payment by entering their phone number.
According to Chen Jidong, an expert in biometric identification technology at Alibaba, makeup and accessories such as wigs do not affect the accuracy of Smile to Pay’s performance.
Ant Financial has stated that it plans to expand the system’s availability.