February theme: Aviation securityCompany looks for ways to expedite airport security
Bay Area airports will be using Clear — a security screening system which passengers can subscribe to for about $100 per year; the creator of Clear launched a contest, offering a $500,000 prize for new technology which gets its customers through security lines 15 percent faster at a cost of less than 25 cents per passenger
Security systems from New York-based Verified Identity Pass will soon be in use at every major Bay Area airport — and the company is now offering a prize to anyone who can come up with a faster way to move travelers through security checkpoints. The company announced that it is offering a $500,000 prize for new technology which gets its customers through security lines 15 percent faster at a cost of less than 25 cents per passenger. Verified would also sign a contract with the winner to use that technology after it is approved by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). Verified operates Clear, a security screening system that passengers can subscribe to for about $100 per year. Subscribers must pass a TSA background check and are issued cards containing their fingerprint and iris-scan information, allowing them to breeze through security lines in a matter of minutes.
The contest guidelines were announced last week at San Francisco International Airport, which is one of more than a dozen airports nationwide that offers Clear. It is also available at San Jose International Airport, and officials at Oakland International Airport say it will be used there within the next three months. “This is kind of based on the X-Prize,” said Clear spokeswoman Cindy Rosenthal. “We got the idea from that and brought it into the aviation security world.” The X-Prize was a contest that awarded $10 million to the first non-government organization that could launch the same manned spacecraft into space twice within two weeks. About seventy companies have expressed an interest in the contest, which has been dubbed the Innovation Prize for Technology, Rosenthal said.
Verified is already working with General Electric on technology that would scan people’s shoes while on their feet. Security lines might also move faster with the introduction of systems that let people leave their belts on and laptops in their cases, Rosenthal said. Oakland airport officials said making security lines move faster would benefit the air travel industry as a whole. “The impact is huge, because it would make traveling a lot more convenient, especially after Sept. 11,” airport spokesman Robert Bernardo said.
