Enabling the contactless journey: Biometrics and digital identity in travel

COVID-19 has forced companies around the world to consider a range of contactless services to help adapt to the reality of our current situation. The concept has never been more top of mind for airlines and hospitality companies as they welcome back more travelers as safely as possible.

Removing friction — literally and figuratively — to deliver more enjoyable customer experiences has long been a mandate of ours at JetBlue Technology Ventures. In particular, we’ve monitored biometrics and digital identity as important but complex enablers. If effectively implemented, travelers could look forward to automatic identification and clearance without the need to check in with multiple parties throughout their trip. Not only would this create a more enjoyable, hassle-free experience, but it also has the potential to eliminate manual processes, shorten lines, and reduce person-to-person contamination.

The current pandemic has accelerated the development of new contactless services, but we are still some distance from a fully end-to-end touchless travel journey. In this post, we review biometrics and digital identity in travel, challenges that point toward the need for new solutions, and notable approaches and companies in the space.

Biometric sensors are ready: Where is our seamless experience?

Biometric systems are a combination of sensors, operating software, and databases that measure aspects of human beings (i.e. fingerprint, facial, palm, images, voice) and compare them to previously collected information that is typically stored in a private database owned and managed by the provider or a government entity. The ubiquity of thumbprint and facial scanners in modern smartphones supports a conclusion that the hardware and associated costs of biometric technology are not limiting factors for more widespread usage. So why isn’t biometrics already allowing us to walk comfortably from curb to gate?

One of the challenges of implementing biometrics from curb to gate is that customers interact with multiple entities in a given trip. As it turns out, most of these groups are either unwilling to share information or use systems that actually cannot pass the data at all. The lack of coordination across biometric systems is a contributor to the currently disjointed experience, where the traveler must restart the check-in process multiple times.

An apparent solution to the exchange problem might be better interoperability between systems. However, transferring sensitive customer information raises concerns around data responsibility and liability. Another argument could be universal reliance on the government for access to their databases. But many question whether these will remain indefinitely accessible as well as flexible enough for scaled use. As it stands, some of these databases are only accessible for specific purposes like international border crossings. Removing dependency on corporate or government-owned databases altogether may provide a better alternative. Enter digital identity.

Digital identity may be the missing piece

While there is bleed over and ambiguous usage of the terms, digital identity refers to systems that verify, store, and manage an individual’s identity in a digital format. Uniquely, digital identity can attach and manage attributes like a government-issued I.D., credit card accounts, memberships, passwords, or biometric sample data to allow for access and authorizations across multiple parties and domains.

In combination with biometrics, digital identity systems can be used as an innovative way to store, protect, and access a customer’s private reference data. This concept also allows for a decoupling of sensor systems and biometric databases which stands to provide greater interoperability, security, liability control, and privacy as described below.

Interoperability: Modern biometrics systems were largely developed without any set of compatibility standards, which led to a fragmented market of solutions unable to communicate with each other. The International Airport Transport Association (IATA) recognizes this interoperability as a serious concern and even launched its own One ID initiative in an effort to establish global standards. A key tenant of digital identity is compatibility across systems and parties. This also brings the benefit of removing much of the integration responsibility from biometrics manufacturers.

Security: According to multiple reports, over seven billion customer records may have been compromised in 2019 from brands like Marriott, Capital One, DoorDash, and Facebook. That means valuable databases of customer information have now become liabilities sought after by hackers. As storage and management of sensitive data is their primary value proposition, many digital identity providers cite security as their strongest competency. While no solution is perfectly secure, digital identity presents an opportunity for corporates to retain ownership of the customer relationship, while opting out of managing the most sensitive pieces of data.

Regulatory Liability: In response to recent breaches, governments now fiercely monitor and penalize failures to secure consumer data. Regulations like the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) and Europe’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) actually make it arguably dangerous for an entity (airport, airline, etc.) to maintain databases of sensitive information. Digital identity solutions could help companies avoid regulatory liability by alleviating much of their need to manage sensitive information.

Privacy: A perpetual and valid concern with biometrics is how the technology could infringe on individual liberties and what companies or governments do with the information collected. This fear is increasingly prevalent as cities call for bans or limits on the use of facial recognition technology by police or government agencies. A widely-made promise across digital identity providers is that consumers gain transparency around information exchange and more control over granting access to third parties.

Leaders in this space

The following is a selective list of both incumbents and startups that we see most notably active or interested in the travel ecosystem:

Approaches

A combination of biometric and digital identity seems a feasible path toward a better customer experience in travel. However, there are multiple ways these technologies could be implemented. The following are a few approaches that we think are particularly interesting:

• Hardware-agnostic digital identity networks: One approach is to build a hardware agnostic network that can store and present a customer’s information and credentials to any biometric system. An analogy to this might be that your digital identity becomes like a credit card, which can be accepted by whichever hardware “reader” you encounter. With this approach, biometric data might be stored on an individual’s device or within an encrypted database. Startups to note here include Airside and Yoti.
• Full-stack: Biometric hardware and software providers (B2B): Another strategy is to offer a full suite of biometric hardware as well as customer information management software. This approach could be used to offer either centralized or off-premise database architectures depending on a client’s needs. Startups to note here include Tascent, Elenium, and Keyo.
• Membership-based biometric networks (B2C): Another approach is to allow customers to use proprietary biometric access points via a membership model. Here, an individual enrolls in the network, provides the required data, and then uses members-only access points. A key distinction is that the provider manages all aspects of a mostly closed system. A startup to note here includes Clear.
• Blockchain-based technologies: Siloed databases are a problem acknowledged across the industry. Another potential solution is the use of blockchain technology to store and manage data across a distributed network. This would decentralize sensitive data, making it difficult for hackers to capture information as well as create a transparent and theoretically immutable record of all exchanges. Startups to note here include Zamna and Sovrin Foundation.

What’s next: You become your I.D., memberships, credit cards, and more?

We believe that greater collaboration across the travel ribbon is paramount and that digital identity is a promising solution because it provides interoperability, flexibility, and security while giving customers more control of how their information is used. If widely adopted, we could see the category developing in a similar fashion to the credit card industry where a few key platforms are the standard (Visa, Mastercard, AmEx, etc) and accepted across all hardware readers or sensors. The concept could revolutionize the way we manage identification, payments, memberships, and more, and we are optimistic on its potential to make more seamless and safe customer journeys possible.

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