Police use facial recognition glasses as Spring Festival travel rush begins

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As the 2018 Spring Festival travel rush ushered in a period of potential travel chaos and safety loopholes, railway police in central China’s Henan Province have equipped their personnel with artificial intelligence glasses that help them screen outlaws and ensure safer journeys.

On Monday, security personnel at Zhengzhou East Railway Station drew attention with their futuristic, black-tinted “sunglasses,” the country’s first facial recognition eyewear designed for the public security sector, People’s Daily reported.

A police officer wears glasses equipped with facial recognition technology in Zhengzhou, Henan Province on Feb. 5, 2018. /VCG Photo

With the glasses, police officers can read passengers’ personal information at one glance by matching faces captured by the accessory’s scanner with existing profile photos stored in a database. Outlaws on the run and suspected criminals using fake IDs would be immediately identified.

The smart eyewear enables police officers to match passengers with profile photos stored in a police database. /VCG Photo

Zhengzhou railway police have so far identified seven fugitives involved in crimes including trafficking and hit-and-run accidents. Twenty-six people suspected of holding fake IDs were also spotted with the help of the facial recognition glasses.

Similar facial recognition technology has also been employed across China at railway stations and airports to help passengers with smoother check-ins during the Spring Festival travel rush, which spans from Feb. 1 to March 12.

Passengers check-in at Beijing South Railway Station using the facial recognition service. /VCG Photo

At the entrances to Jinan railway station in the capital of eastern Shandong Province, passengers can put their ID cards and tickets on the gate machines and infrared cameras scan their faces before allowing them into the station. The station no longer has staff for manually checking tickets and ID cards.

The smart technology has sprouted and is widely used in other sectors as well. Bank customers in Jinan can withdraw cash after “swiping” their faces at some appointed ATM machines. University students were reportedly using facial recognition to check in for seminars. Diners in east China city of Hangzhou can order food at KFC and pay by scanning their faces at an ordering kiosk and entering a phone number.

Diners ordering and paying with facial recognition technology at a KFC restaurant in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province. /Chinanews Photo

China's Forward-looking Industry Institute says that the facial recognition market in China surpassed 1 billion yuan (about 150 million US dollars) in 2016, and is expected to hit 5.1 billion yuan by 2021.