Future travel: automated border crossings

Toward greater automation

Border crossing stakeholders must keep two separate things in mind: keeping the border secure, while also streamlining the user experience of that crossing. It isn’t always easy to reconcile the two. This usually involves doing one of two things, explained Michael Brandau, Director Solutions and Product Management, Veridos: “You hire more staff, which requires more space. Or, you invest in more automation. This keeps staff more or less constant, but improves throughput, that is, the number of passengers cleared through the crossing.”

Within reason, most border crossing authorities are moving toward the latter. Events of the past few years have played a role. “After COVID, we see more countries, more authorities, actively thinking about more efficient use of automation technologies,” acknowledged Brandau.

This could be in various configurations. Among others: 

1. A combination of eKiosks and eGates (expected soon across the European Union)
2. A combination of biometric collection at a kiosk and manual verification by border guards (for example, in the US)
3. Through pre-registered traveler lanes (Global Entry in the US is a well-known example)

“Better border crossings make sound business sense as well,” pointed out Robert Schneider, Manager business excellence at Veridos. “Stakeholders like airport operators have an interest in providing a seamless travel experience to their users, so they come back.” This has a knock-on effect with their partners, like airlines. A fully functional border crossing with nice amenities is a draw, on a par with other lifestyle choices. Especially when there may be an alternate crossing or transit point in the region that the traveler may choose instead. 

However, as pointed out earlier, the user experience is one part of the matrix. The other is a fully secure border crossing. The border guard isn’t the first barrier the traveler should be facing; they should be the last. (Once you’re past the guard, you’re literally free to walk into the other country.) Increasingly, border authorities have begun screening before the traveler even gets to the border guard.

Screening starts at home

Digital travel authorizations (DTAs) and other data collection methods have seen an uptick as the technology that makes them viable has improved. Countries such as the US have made extensive use of such methods (the Electronic System for Travel Authorization, or ESTA, is perhaps the best-known example worldwide) to facilitate arrivals of eligible travelers. Schemes like this have multiple benefits, including:

• At least some level of pre-screening has already happened, and data has been collected, before the traveler arrives at the border guard’s desk
• A fee has probably been collected as well
• Travelers can fill out the required information from the comfort of their homes, at their leisure
• It is less work than going to an embassy, for example, to get a physical visa stamped in your passport
• The data collected can combine seamlessly with further processing at an eKiosk at the border crossing, lessening the demand on a physical check, while increasing the number of travelers processed through the crossing in any given period of time 

As DTAs get more common, and the global travel ecosystem moves toward digital travel credentials (DTCs), the collection of information at various points will contribute to a better, more user-friendly experience at the crossing itself. This is being led by both more buy-in from stakeholders and a willingness to use the automation technology that is now available.

However, cautioned Brandau, this won’t happen immediately, as there is no one-size-fits-all tech solution that fits the bill at every crossing across the world. 

Different crossing, different needs

“Many agencies have limitations in the kind of automated solution they can pursue,” said Schneider. They may want a tech-driven solution to work seamlessly across the entire border crossing, but such a solution would require a lot of infrastructure, including spotless internet connectivity across the area, and a lot of embeds. This infrastructure has a price tag that may be off-putting to some authorities. 

In addition, for a tech-driven solution to work, the physical credential presented by every traveler needs to match up with the system that has been put in place on the ground. A machine-readable passport, to take just one instance, will not be read by an eGate in the same way, or as efficiently, as an actual ePassport. Until such time as physical documents are fully standardized everywhere, automation will continue to have gaps, even in the most technically advanced crossings.

Better weather ahead

Industry bodies that span the globe, such the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), are pushing for more standardization across formats, and for a more universal acceptance of tech-led solutions such as DTAs and DTCs.

As an agenda-setting body, this bodes well for the further adoption of automation measures around the world. Sharing information is another way in which nations, especially neighbors, can cooperate to streamline crossings, thereby increasing throughput while (hopefully) driving down costs. As an example, travelers between countries would undergo rigorous border controls only at one end, leaving them free to walk out of the crossing without any checks at the far side. The benefits to both border authority and traveler are clear.

It seems there is a path to what travelers have hitherto only dreamt about: the so-called frictionless experience. But what is this in reality, and how far away is it? 

Biometrics key to reducing friction

Recent advances in biometrics, both at the collection stage through kiosks and during verification, have dramatically changed the landscape of automated border crossings. In fact, biometrics have the potential to change the face of travel, when used in conjunction with DTAs and other user-friendly technologies.

However, there are issues. The first impression a traveler usually has of biometrics is through their fingerprints being collected. While fingerprint-based systems are easy to use, and fairly widespread worldwide, users may not like them, due to hygiene or due to other associations – for example, the use of fingerprinting in law enforcement.

Face recognition has been something of a game-changer, with the technology improving to the extent that authorities who had hitherto insisted on fingerprinting are considering face recognition in their processes. Iris recognition is also getting better very quickly, both in terms of collecting the data and in terms of verifying it. Taken together, they present a scenario where enthusiasts of so-called frictionless corridors – along which travelers can move without ever meeting a border agent, while their credentials are verified biometrically – can say the future is truly at hand.

However, “A truly biometric corridor that allows for frictionless travel is still not past the proof-of-concept stage anywhere in the world,” stated Brandau. Face recognition on the move is possible, but iris verification remains tricky. There is also the significant issue of designing a channel through which an agent can intervene if required. 

“A frictionless corridor running on biometric verification is something to look forward to,” agreed Schneider. “But it certainly isn’t here yet.”

Human supervision will always be required, noted Brandau: “We’re speaking about ‘automated,’ not ‘automatic.’ There is always the possibility of a human agent having to intervene with the automated procedure. Even if we see biometric-based seamless corridors, there will always be someone with oversight. I think that will stay.”