Pay with your face: Businesses embrace facial recognition payment

(NewsNation) — For years, Americans have been showing their faces to use Clear at airports and unlock their phones.

Now, a restaurant in Pasadena, California, is among those where diners can use face payment.

CaliExpress is the world’s first fully autonomous restaurant. The ordering process is all by touchscreen, and customers’ burgers and fries are prepared by robots.

Diners can customize their orders like many other restaurants, but a new checkout option called PopID facilitates payments through facial recognition.

It can also immediately recognize individual customers at businesses using biometric technology.

It’s not just restaurants relying on the value of more “face time.”

The NFL and Verizon have begun testing facial recognition for entry into football games.

“I let the system recognize me, it sees me, it shows me my tickets, I select my ticket, I scan it, and it allows me access without ever having to touch a piece of a ticket or a phone or any piece of technology other than just the likeness of my face,” said Michael Ruhnke, vice president of global enterprise for Verizon.

With PopID, payment is always user-controlled, and you create your account with a selfie — all part of a world that’s leaning more toward facial recognition.

PopID popped up in Brazil and Asia two years ago, and the majority of users have adapted favorably to face payments.

Here in the United States, the Steak ‘n Shake chain is expanding its face ID payment system to more than 300 locations.