Trueface airport biometric solution wins both sides of World Aviation Festival startup pitch competition

Trueface has won the startup pitch competition at the World Aviation Festival, run in partnership with Phocuswright, for its biometric facial recognition and computer vision solution.

CEO Shaun Moore presented the company’s aviation solution for Trade and Travel’s inaugural passenger screening and safety acceleration program. The competition featured dozens of companies from established technology accelerators like Jetblue Ventures, Lufthansa Innovation Hub, Founders Factory, and Starburst, according to a LinkedIn post.

The top six companies from across the aviation value chain were selected to present, and each was evaluated based on its degree of technical innovation, potential business value, ability to sell the concept or company, and potential to create breakthrough value in the industry.

The competition consisted of two awards, one for people’s choice and another for judge’s choice, with Trueface taking both awards. Judges were representatives of Amadeus Ventures, Travel Tech Nation, Travel Capital, and Enterprise Ireland.

Other entries in the competition dealt with data sharing solutions, aircraft inspections with drones, passenger communication technology, complex trip booking automation and improving environmental sustainability.

Trueface set out to solve three related industry problems; dramatic staff reductions, even prior to COVID-19, monitoring CCTV cameras and complying with biosecurity guidelines, and restoring traveler confidence. The solution it developed combines biometric facial recognition, object detection, elevated temperate detection, and PPE compliance with density mapping and people counting.

These technologies, Moore says, can be applied to the existing camera infrastructure of the airport to both reduce cost for aviation companies and maximize profit by making travelers confidant and happy enough to spend.

The idea dovetails with end-to-end digital traveler credential programs like IATA’s One ID. A demonstration video shows travelers who have opted in being associated with their Trueface ID, while the images of others who have opted out are redacted.

The technology is provided through an SDK, API, or no-code solutions hosted on client infrastructure to limit the spread of customer data. The solution is also camera-agnostic, Moore says.

Trueface’s algorithm ranked in the top ten in NIST’s FRVT for match speed, which Moore says is important for the production environment as the company can scan around 1 billion people in a second. That speed, in combination with accuracy and low bias, is the company’s key differentiator, according to Moore. He also notes the security and redaction features, and says the company has three patents pending related to privacy technologies.

The company also released an evaluation of the demographic bias in its facial recognition model earlier this year, and signed its third contract with the U.S. Air Force for base security.

Asked about applications in the broader hospitality industry, Moore said “I think facial recognition really is a component from hotel to car to airport to airline and then back down to your house.”

Article Topics

airports  |  aviation security  |  biometric identification  |  biometrics  |  facial recognition  |  mask detection  |  passenger processing  |  temperature monitoring  |  Trueface  |  trusted traveller