This Chinese Airbnb competitor requires face recognition to unlock doors

Facial recognition is set to take the commercial route. The technology is on its way to being used by China-based home-sharing company to deliver more secure access.

Xiaozhu, the Chinese version of Airbnb, is planning to add facial recognition-enabled door locks to 80 percent of its listings in the city of Chengdu, Quartz reported.

With facial recognition, the company expects to make the shared-homes business safer and more secure. Xiaozhu has already added the technology from Alibaba to door locks in 40 cities.

Xiaozhu is not the only company incorporating the facial recognition technology. Popular food joints such as KFC in China, boarding airplanes, and Alipay's 'Smile to Pay' service use the technology as an important feature.