Designed to hold a maximum of 100 million passengers per year, the US$12 billion airport in Beijing is nothing short of extraordinary.
In fact, it will boast groundbreaking surveillance technology, which is intended to alleviate both immigration and security bottlenecks.
Yitu, a Chinese AI startup is currently preparing a bid to deliver its revolutionary facial recognition technology to the one-of-a-kind airport.
On the other hand, SenseTime Group is anticipated to be one of the rivals for the same contract.
Located nearly 50 kilometers south of central Beijing, the Zaha Hadid-designed airport will assist in easing congestion, particularly at the existing airport situated in the northeast part of the city.
What’s more, the airport will be of great service to Xiongan, a satellite city adjacent to Hebei province, which was developed to minimize overcrowding in Beijing.
It is anticipated that cameras installed at the airport will be in charge of performing identity verification by matching a user’s appearance to that stored in a national ID database.
As such, airport authorities will be in a position to match users to their luggage through computer vision. Doing so will help them track and assess unattended belongings to avert security risks.
According to sources that are well-conversant with the matter, SenseTime is currently testing similar facial recognition technology at the current airport in Beijing on a limited basis.
The sources declined to recognized since they are not authorized to reveal such details to the media.
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A group of college colleagues from the Chinese University of Hong Kong launched SenseTime. Currently, the company is the most funded startups in China.
According to 500 Startups, a San-Francisco-based VC, Abacus, and the South China Morning Post, SenseTime raised 1.6 billion US dollars as of June.
SenseTime is behind the IT upgrades of airports in Haikou and Chengdu as well as over 30 train stations all over China.
According to one of the startup’s representatives, the upgrades allow face-scanning machines to match passengers to their tickets and minimize the manpower needed for the vital but mundane task.
Yitu Technology ’s representative said that the company is preparing to bid for contracts at the new airport in Beijing. Although he declined to divulge more details, he added that the Shanghai-based company has already tested its facial recognition technology at the current Beijing airport.
Recently, Yitu ventured into medical diagnostics by partnering with a hospital located in Chengdu.
The move is intended to utilize AI in expediting diagnosis through helping to assist doctors in processing real-time inputs drawn from scans, genetic tests, pathological examinations, and written records.
Furthermore, the technology company also set up a Singapore office as part of its endeavors to export its remarkable technology to Southeast Asia.
For now, SenseTime has signed different deals with the National Supercomputing Centre in Singapore, Nanyang Technological University, and Singapore Telecommunications.
Away from that, reports from the new airport’s spokesman said that bidding for the inner improvement of the airport is currently taking place. He also added that the airport’s priority is passenger experience.
Source SCMP
