This summer, the technology will be tested on residents of the UK and EU countries who have new biometric passports. The automated passport control system will compare personal data stored on the electronic chip of the passenger's passport with the results of scanning their face.
According to the authorities, automated passport control will be faster and more efficient than traditional document checks. The pilot project of the new control system is to be launched before the start of the summer holiday season, but it is not yet known how many UK airports it will cover.
The upcoming innovation became known at the currently ongoing conference in London of representatives of the biometric industry, border services, and police technology experts. As The Guardian notes, not all participants of this event were enthusiastic about the British authorities' idea. According to project critics, given the current level of development of facial recognition technology, its use may have too high a margin of error and will only complicate airport operations.
As reported by Lenta.ru, British airports currently already use biometric identification technology based on retinal scanning, but it is only used for expedited service of pre-registered passengers on business trips. The error rate of this system ranges from three to five percent.
The introduction of facial scanning technology will be one of the steps towards creating a comprehensive "advance passenger information" (API) system. This system will allow authorities to verify the personal data of all passengers against a list of individuals who have come to the attention of security agencies.