Pay with the palm of your hand

CHINA Users in Beijing can pay for subway tickets with just a wave of their hand.

According to SCMP , WeChat Pay users can sign up for the palm payment service from May 21. Then, they don't have to buy a ticket as usual, but simply put their hand on the scanner to open the door to the train station. Currently, this technology is only applied at certain gates for trips to Daxing Airport.

Tencent's palm payment technology at Beijing subway station. Photo: Handout

According to Tencent, the solution developed by the YouTube artificial intelligence lab is based on the fingerprint and vein recognition capabilities of the hand. Technology is deployed to improve efficiency and user experience, especially for the elderly. In the coming time, new technology will be provided in many different environments from offices, schools, restaurants to retail stores.

Tencent's payment method is also controversial for its security as biometric data theft is increasingly common in China. Besides, the facial recognition payment feature has also been applied for many years.

However, using the palm is considered more convenient, especially when the user wears a mask or the phone runs out of battery. The service is currently only available to Chinese residents who have registered for verification on WeChat Pay.

Meanwhile, Alibaba is also said to be working on similar technology for payment service Alipay. Currently, WeChat Pay and Alipay account for more than 90% of the mobile payment market share in China.

In the US, Amazon also introduced a manual payment technology and applied it at its stores from 2020, then expanded at the Whole Foods supermarket chain.