The Transportation Security Administration has debuted a prototype self-service airport security checkpoint that requires no human intervention at Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas.
The new technology, called “Innovation Checkpoints,” allows passengers to pass through security with the help of step-by-step instructional videos rather than TSA officers, and will allow passengers to pass through security screening with the help of step-by-step instructional videos rather than TSA officers. Testing will be available for passengers. -march.
Aside from the lack of human intervention, everything else about the security inspection process remains the same. According to the press release It was issued Wednesday by the TSA and the Department of Homeland Security’s Science and Technology Directorate, which collaborated to launch the Innovation Checkpoint.
Travelers still have to run their bags through the scanner, empty their pockets and walk into the scanner themselves.
Once a passenger “completes the necessary screening process and is cleared to travel, an automatic exit door opens and the traveler can gather their belongings and head to their flight.”
“This self-service prototype allows trusted travelers to complete the screening process at their own pace,” TSA Administrator David Pekoske said in a statement.
“Assistance from Transportation Security Officers (TSOs) will be minimal, but TSOs will be available to assist as needed,” the agency said in a release, adding, “As required by passengers using TSA pre-screening lanes, The same rigorous testing standards and regulations that apply to all manufacturers are applied. Apply to self-screening lanes. ”
It is unclear when the Innovation Checkpoint will be implemented for all passengers passing through Harry Reid International Airport.
TSA and DHS S&T said in a release that they will “carefully consider the results of this evaluation before announcing a schedule for future deployment of this prototype to other checkpoint lanes and other airports.”
The technology is intended to help TSA agents handle the surge in passenger traffic in recent months, particularly in Las Vegas.
“As the number of airline passengers continues to increase year over year, there is a need for innovative testing solutions that enhance road safety and make travel more efficient,” said Dimitri Kusnezov, Under Secretary for Science and Technology at the Department of Homeland Security. said.
In late October, TSA officers had their busiest day yet at Sin City’s Tier 1 airport, located less than five miles from the Strip, screening 103,400 passengers. According to CNN,Quote TSA numbers.
For reference, this figure is higher than in November, when thousands of tourists also flooded the metro for the F1 race.
The TSA has screened 143 million people at checkpoints across the United States so far this year, an amount that would normally take about two months for air travel in the United States.
That number was up 8 million people, or 6%, from the same period last year, CNN reported.
According to CNN, TSA agents screened 106 million travelers during the six-week holiday travel period from Thanksgiving to the end of 2023. This is a 10% increase over the previous year, and before the pandemic he was up 2% compared to the same period in 2019. .
