From CNET Magazine: Smartphones, online services and biometric scanners
are already easing the way for travelers. Expect even more tech to
transform your journeys in the not-too-distant future.
Andy Abramson spends more than 200 days a year
traversing the globe. It can be a grueling combination of international
flights, airport layovers and rush-hour traffic.
While that kind of life on the road can bring strong men to their knees,
Abramson eases through it with apps on his Apple iPhone and MacBook
Air, including Uber for hailing rides, Airbnb for booking lodging, and
Skype and GoToMeeting for video chatting.
"I pretty
much live using my technology," says Abramson, CEO of Comunicano, a
public relations and marketing consultancy in Del Mar, California.
Though few of us will travel a fraction as much as Abramson,
getting around is certainly easier now than a decade ago. Online booking
has replaced trips to travel agents. Digital bar codes are supplanting
boarding passes. Google Maps keeps us from getting lost. Apps from
United and other airlines stream movies to our tablets while we're in
the air.
The next decade promises even more
innovation. Touchscreens, wireless networks, sensors and software will
escort you from home to hotel, and all points in between. Online
services will handle the grunt work of finding hotels, booking flights
and figuring out transportation. Biometric readers will scan your
fingerprints, face or eyes to speed you through security and passport
lines. Smart luggage won't get lost. Hotel Wi-Fi will automatically sync
up with your devices. And smartphones will let doctors remotely
diagnose ailments.
Here's how technology will change our journeys in the not-too-distant future.
At your service
Looking for a flight from San Francisco to Rome? Today, you could
spend hours comparing flight times, connecting flights and prices.
Technology is changing tedious parts of travel.
CNET/Getty Images
Intelligent software agents will take over that chore, predicts David
Lloyd, chief executive of IntelliResponse, which makes "virtual agent"
software that large companies use to provide customer support. These
virtual agents will know your travel habits and preferences (aisle seat
and extra legroom, please). They'll also act swiftly to rebook flights
in case of delays or cancellations.
It's the direction Expedia
is headed with online service, says John Kim, chief product officer of
the popular online travel site. "But first, we have to generate trust
with our customers."
Then there's the little issue of those
long, snaking lines in front of airlines' check-in counters. Several
carriers, including Alaska Airlines and Spain's Iberia, let you print
baggage tags at home to bypass those lines.
Speedy check
Biometric authentication -- using our bodies to identify who we are -- will also speed us through airport checkpoints.
It's slowly starting to happen. Two years ago, London's Gatwick
airport ran a trial in which 3,000 British Airways passengers scanned
their irises when checking in. That allowed security cameras to
recognize them as they passed through checkpoints and boarding gates.
Scandinavian carrier SAS now scans passengers' fingerprints when they
check their bags and uses those prints to let them board. Click above for more CNET Magazine stories.
"We are going to move toward self-boarding of airlines," says
Terry Hartmann, vice president for Unisys security solutions, which
makes biometric authentication systems.
Security checks will
also get faster and less intrusive (no more TSA agents rummaging
through your gear) with new scanners from companies like startup Qylur
Security Systems. Its five-cubbyhole baggage scanner, tested in Brazil
during last year's World Cup, takes 30 seconds compared with 2 minutes
for today's X-ray conveyor belt systems, says CEO Lisa Dolev. And it's
smart enough to let you leave water or laptops packed in your bag.
You'll also spend less time getting through customs when you land.
The Vancouver Airport Authority's face-detection technology cut peak
waiting times from 90 minutes to less than 15, says Paul Mewett, a VAA
director. Fingerprint and facial scanners at South Korea's Incheon
Airport get travelers through customs in about 12 minutes, compared with
45 minutes worldwide.
About 14 percent of the world's
airports plan to use biometric technology of some sort within the next
couple of years, according to a survey by SITA, which provides
technology to airports and airlines.
When you're there
Hilton's smartphone app already lets you check in and pick a room
before you arrive. Later this year, you'll be able to bypass the front
desk altogether by unlocking your room with your smartphone.
And in a few years, today's flaky hotel Wi-Fi will be an unpleasant
memory. It'll accommodate multiple devices and heavier traffic -- and it
won't cost extra.
"Wi-Fi is the new hot water. It's
something you absolutely expect," says Umar Riaz, a travel services
consultant at Accenture.
Tomorrow's travel tech, today
Don't want to wait for the future? Try today's gadgets and services. Phablets
like the iPhone 6 Plus, Samsung Galaxy Note 4 and Google Nexus 6
improve productivity when your laptop's packed. Their bigger screens
ease thumb typing and make mobile document editing more practical.
Phablets' batteries last longer, too. Make sure you get a fast-charging
model. Google Translate serves as a language
middleman, enabling a two-way conversation. Its Word Lens feature isn't
perfect, but it helps translate signs and menus. Portable Wi-Fi hotspots
for rent from companies like XCom Global cut roaming charges and hotel
network fees. Their Wi-Fi networks link your phone, PC and tablet to
wireless data networks in other countries. TripIt
minimizes travel chaos. Using your booking emails from hotels, flights
and rental cars, it creates a tidy itinerary linked to your online
calendar. The $49-per-year Pro version adds alerts, locates alternate
flights and strips out ads. Google's $35 Chromecast
plugs into your hotel's TV to bypass pay-per-view videos in favor of
streaming video. You can hold videoconferences on the big screen, too.
Profound changes
Transportation itself may also change.
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk wants to revolutionize travel with a
Hyperloop transportation system. Solar-powered electromagnetic pulses
would propel pressurized passenger cabins through tubes on a cushion of
air. Speeds could theoretically approach 800 mph.
Others
think high-speed rail will be the mainstream transportation of the
future. Passengers already use it widely throughout Asia and Europe. And
California broke ground this year for its own $68 billion bullet
service.
Then there are remote-controlled telepresence robots from iRobot
and others. These wheeled machines bring your face, eyes and voice to
another location so your virtual self can roam the corridors and chat
with co-workers. "We're in the early stages of a massive opportunity to
reduce the need for business travel," says Double Robotics CEO David
Cann.
Maybe the ultimate future of travel is none at all. This story appears in the fall edition of CNET Magazine. For other magazine stories, go here.
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