HID will soon launch a new facial biometric camera designed for various applications in the travel industry.
The Facepod is still in development, but HID Managing Director of Biometrics Vito Fabbrizio says Biometric update in an email interview that it is intended for use throughout the trip.
HID brought the Facepod to the Passenger Terminal Expo (PTE) in Frankfurt earlier this year for a preview. This week, the company showcased the biometric camera at the 2024 ASIAL Security Exhibition and Conference in Sydney. HID also showcased a number of other products, including its Mobile Access solution for issuing and using digital wallet credentials and its Signo Mechanical Keypad Reader 40T, which is designed for use in extreme weather conditions.
The HID Facepod is designed for use at check-in, baggage drop, security screening, immigration and customs screening, lounge access, retail payments and aircraft boarding, according to Fabbrizio. It can be used as a standalone unit or in combination with electronic gates from HID parent company Assa Abloy or other vendors.
Fabbrizio says HID received “a lot of positive feedback on the product design and features” of the Facepod at this year’s PTE. While he declined to give an exact launch date, he notes that “we are working with strategic partners to finalize product development.”
According to Fabbrizio, the camera system combines HID’s experience in developing biometric hardware and systems that operate at the network edge, but also the practical requirements of facial recognition in high-traffic environments such as airports.
“In our approach to developing the Facepod, we placed a lot of emphasis on style and ergonomics, implementing a sophisticated design with strong technical biometric performance,” he says. “We will continue to add new solutions (software and hardware) to meet the needs of this evolving field.”
The Facepod is powered by HID’s multispectral U.ARE.U camera with integrated liveness detection and powerful matching algorithms, says Fabbrizio. “The U.ARE.U camera can easily adapt to the needs of the environment while providing capture, matching, identification, verification and liveness detection at the edge.”
HID is also currently exploring many potential applications for the camera system outside of the travel industry.
“The HID Facepod was designed with flexibility in mind and is already attracting interest from other industries such as cruise lines, hospitality, retail, banking and healthcare,” says Fabbrizio.
Article topics
Airports | Biometrics | Edge biometrics | Cameras | Facepod | Facial recognition | HID | Hospitality | U.are.U
