Ant Financial Services Group operates Chinas largest online payments service Alipay with more than 450 million daily users. The company demonstrated VR Pay in Shenzhen explaining that it will allow virtual reality shoppers to pay for things in future just by nodding their heads.
The VR payment technology enables people using virtual reality goggles to browse virtual reality shopping malls and pay for purchases without taking off the goggles. They can just nod or look instead. User identity can be verified on VR Pay via account logins on connected devices or via voice print technology that recognizes each persons unique voice. Passwords will still be needed for authentication, which the user can also enter with head movements, touch, or by staring at a point on virtual display for longer than 1.5 seconds.
VR Pay is part of Alibabas efforts to capitalize on the latest technology in online shopping. In 2015 it introduced a facial recognition technology for Alipay mobile payments service advertised as pay with a selfie. In September 2016, it bought US company EyeVerify, a maker of optical verification technology used by US banks including Wells Fargo, according to Reuters.
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