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Futuristic travel more down to earth, collaborative says study
Thoughts of futuristic travel often bring images of commercial low-earth orbit flights, man on Mars or rediscovering the Moon. A new study highlights real-world programs and technology being developed right now that is much more common, affecting us all.By 2020, all airports will be paperless and bags will be electronically tagged, according to the From Chaos to Collaboration report released this week by Amadeus, a leading provider of IT solutions to the travel and tourism industry Just eight years from now, the report says, travelers will be using fingerprint boarding passes and eye-scanning passports.
"We wanted to avoid making techno-centric assumptions about the future of travel - and painting a picture of flying cars and intelligent robots in a world that is otherwise unchanged from today," Andrew Curry, director and co-author The Futures Company told Travelmole.
New technological innovation should take the stress out of travel, leaving passengers with nothing to remember and the ability to track the location of luggage at any time. Using fingerprints to check in is hoped to reduce or eliminate the lengthy queues and delays in manual check-in.
In the not too distant future, travelers will cruise through customs and immigration with just a scan of their retina...or a chip implanted in their arm.
"If you talk to a technologist they will tell you it's perfectly possible to have a chip in your arm, or use facial recognition technology and walk on to a plane or a vehicle without checking in," Tim Jones, a technology consultant, said in the report. "But it seems as if the regulators or border- control staff are intent on adding extra layers of security, rather than removing them."
Coming up too, passengers will be able to use virtual tour guides to visit sites of interest through the same principles as gaming on smart phones and computers.
It's all about harnessing technology to make travel in the future simpler and more efficient, "shifting focus from satisfying the needs and wants of individual travelers to providing the environment for networks and flows of travelers as a group to move and flourish" says the report.
"We hope that this study will challenge, provoke and stimulate thinking around how we will all be traveling in the future" added Curry.
Flickr photo by timo_w2s
In the not too distant future, travelers will cruise through customs and immigration with just a scan of their retina...or a chip implanted in their arm.
"If you talk to a technologist they will tell you it's perfectly possible to have a chip in your arm, or use facial recognition technology and walk on to a plane or a vehicle without checking in," Tim Jones, a technology consultant, said in the report. "But it seems as if the regulators or border- control staff are intent on adding extra layers of security, rather than removing them."
Coming up too, passengers will be able to use virtual tour guides to visit sites of interest through the same principles as gaming on smart phones and computers.
It's all about harnessing technology to make travel in the future simpler and more efficient, "shifting focus from satisfying the needs and wants of individual travelers to providing the environment for networks and flows of travelers as a group to move and flourish" says the report.
"We hope that this study will challenge, provoke and stimulate thinking around how we will all be traveling in the future" added Curry.
Flickr photo by timo_w2s
Filed under: Business, Europe, North America, United States, Airlines, Airports
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Unexpected Traveller Jan 14th 2012 5:46AM
I disagree with the comment about adding vs removing layers of security - as long as we have enough - and good - security, that should be fine. I think the point that needs to be made is that sometimes people add unnecessary layers of security which is very bad.
I'm a bit sceptical about fingerprints because they do not always work and once almost caused me problems upon entry into the USA: http://wp.me/ppqxP-9j