Aussie airport smartgates to be ditched for facial recognition

The federal government has awarded border technology provider Vision-Box a $22.5 million contract to replace Australia's fleet of airport smartgates with an automated solution that uses facial recognition to clear travellers.

The Immigration department went to tender last December for an automated border control solution to replace the Morpho-based arrivals smartgates it has been using since 2007.

It today announced Vision-Box - whose smartgate technology is installed at departure gates around the country - would overhaul the arrivals process for travellers under a three-year, $22.5 million deal.

The solution will remove the need for travellers to present their passport by matching individuals against facial images stored in airlines' advanced passenger processing systems, rather than their passport chip.

It means travellers won't be required to present any documentation at the gate.

The Immigration department is targeting a clearance rate of 90 percent of international travellers processed through automated solutions by 2020.

The new solution will first arrive at Canberra airport but will later be implemented in all ten major international airports across the country.

Vision-Box's automated border clearance platform is one of a three-pronged suite of programs under the Immigration department's 'seamless traveller' initiative.

Alongside arrivals smartgates, the initiative will also see the incoming passenger card and exit marshalling process replaced with automated technology.

They will all be integrated with a new Pega business process management system - what Immigration refers to as its 'traveller processing centre' - that will act as the central decision maker for border clearances.

Earlier this month Immigration went to market for the incoming passenger card and exit marshalling overhaul bundles of work.

Vision-Box was among those to attend a recent industry briefing on those two initiatives.