Your Face May Be Your Ticket

Facial recognition software seems to be in the forefront of technology these days. All the hubbub around the new iPhone feature and even Snapchat filters…your face is being scanned everywhere. So, if you can unlock your phone with your face, why not pay for your subway ticket with it too?

Lyndon Smith, Professor at Bristol Robotics Lab, says the idea is simple…there would no longer be gates at train stations, you just rely on high technology to recognize people. You could also ensure there are no persons who are not supposed to be there, too.

Smith also points out that many of the facial recognition systems currently in place are only two-dimensional, which means they can easily be spoofed if you simply held a picture in front of your face.

“Whereas our system, because it recovers the shape of the face, and the texture, cannot be fooled in that way,” Smith said.

Bristol Robotics Lab is working with a company called Cubic, in hopes to improve the reliability more drastically so that in the future, your face can be your credit card.