Biometrics have taken off faster in some regions than others. Paul Willis looks into the reasons behind Europe’s relatively slow roll-out of the technology
This September the Francebased tech multinational Thales announced the deployment of its Automated Border Control (ABC) gate at three Spanish airports: Reus, Girona- Costa Brava and Tenerife South.
The smart border gates, which rely on facial recognition technology, have already been installed at several other Spanish airports this year. In February, meanwhile, Thales ran a pilot programme at Adolfo Suárez Madrid–Barajas Airport, trialling an end-to-end contactless solution using mobile devices.
Paris Orly ran a similar trial this summer in collaboration with the airline Transavia and the French tech developer Idemia. Similar programmes have already taken place at London’s two main hubs – Heathrow and Gatwick – and at Amsterdam’s Schiphol.
