A glimpse of Dubai’s future as technology driving smart cities takes centre stage
Technology on show includes 80 cameras that will scan a passenger’s face and iris
A cross between a drone and a motorcycle, self-driving police cars, artificial intelligence systems and the new BlackBerry handset were all on show yesterday, supporting Dubai’s march towards becoming the world’s smartest city amid billions of dirhams of investment in its telecoms infrastructure this year to drive the transformation. Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed, Crown Prince of Dubai and Chairman of Dubai Executive Council yesterday launched Gitex Technology Week and said that it and other technology events supported “Dubai’s march to become the world’s smartest city”.
Yesterday, The Smart Dubai Office said it would work with the Roads and Transport Authority and others to develop the use of AI to prevent traffic accidents. The tie-up will help make Dubai a destination “for start-ups in the region, encourage entrepreneurships, and embrace sophisticated technologies”, said RTA director general Mattar Al Tayer.
The Smart Dubai 2021 plan will totally transform the emirate – from its economy, lifestyle and governance, to the environment, people and mobility.
Enabling this will be upgrades to mobile and fibre optic networks. “Due to these investments, 3G network coverage has reached 99.58 per cent while 4G LTE is at 97.78 per cent,” said Saleh Al Abdooli, chief executive of the Etisalat Group, which will spend over Dh3 billion this year on infrastructure.
Werner Vogels, chief technology officer at Amazon said yesterday that the company is expanding its presence in cloud services in the Middle East to take advantage of the increased demand from tech start-ups in the region.
At Gitex, Dubai Police unveiled the Hoversurf, a cross between a drone and motorcycle and a 200kph electric carbon fibre-plated motorcycle with eight cameras which take and transmit 360-degree images, and a self-driving police vehicle that send live footage from Dubai’s streets. TCL Communication unveiled the new touchscreen BlackBerry Motion, the second new device from the Chinese manufacturer since acquiring rights to the smartphone brand last year.
At an aviation security event in Dubai a virtual border offering a new kind of airport security check was on display ahead of being installed at Dubai International by summer next year.
Travellers departing from Dubai will no longer need to pass through any sort of security clearance counter or e-gate, they will simply walk through a virtual aquarium tunnel that will scan their face or iris using hidden cameras.
The tunnel, which will display high-resolution images of an aquarium, will be equipped with about 80 cameras.
The idea came about after 18 months of brainstorming. It is one of several new security measures taken by Dubai aviation officials, such as replacing the explosive detection scanners with new, Chinese-made ones that can detect a wider range of chemical traces.
“The fish is a sort of entertainment and something new for the traveller but, at the end of the day, it attracts the vision of the travellers to different corners in the tunnel for the cameras to capture his or her face print,” said Maj Gen Obaid Al Hameeri, the deputy director general of Dubai residency and foreign affairs.
“The virtual images are of very high quality and gives a simulation of a real-life aquarium.”
The tunnel display can also be altered to offer other natural settings, such as the desert, or even to display advertising.
At the end of the tunnel, if the traveller is already registered, they will either receive a green message that says “have a nice trip” or, if further checks are necessary a red sign will alert the operations room to intervene.
“Throughout the tunnel, the passenger does not feel anything, they pass through normally,” Gen Al Hameeri said.
The first of these “virtual borders” will be installed during the summer next year at Dubai International Airport’s Terminal 3, the home of Emirates. The tunnels will be rolled out at other Dubai terminals in phases up until 2020.
While the tunnels will serve all passengers, not only those travelling with Emirates, Gen Al Hameeri said the first phase will be piloted at Emirates’ terminal because it already has the required infrastructure and is also the official airline and partner.
The idea came about when officials were considering how best to accommodate the increasing number of passengers travelling through Dubai airports.
General Civil Aviation figures show that more than 124 million passengers are expected to pass through all Dubai airports by 2020, so “we had to come up with more ways to cope with the increase. Right now, we have 80 million,” the general said.
Travellers will be able to register their face scans at kiosks all around the airport and they will also be available during a promotional stage at a number of malls and hotels.
The tunnels will replace the security clearance currently conducted at airport counters.
Even though airport officials have managed to cut down the time spent at the security clearance desk to five seconds, it is still not fast enough when passenger numbers hit 120 million, said Gen Al Hameeri, who said that the tunnels were part of an ongoing process to introduce innovative measures.
“The tunnel has not come out of nowhere, without any foundation,” he said. “We have been working for about four years to transform the procedure from the traditional counter and in the future we will not need the counter at all.
“There will be auditing, of course, but not through the counter.”
He said that security, as much as speeding up procedures and enhancing the travel process for passengers, is a priority.
“This will also benefit stakeholders; now the traveller can spend more time shopping at duty free, or avoid missing their flight due to long queues,” he said.
Initially, the first tunnel will conduct face scans, with a plan to introduce iris-in-motion scanning as well.
Meanwhile, Rabie Atieh, vice president of Emirates Group Security, said that, in addition to the tunnel introduction, other stringent security measures were being implemented.
“There are measures to increase inspections, there are new Chinese devices that detect things that were not detected by earlier devices, like explosives … and there are many new measures with regards to combating terrorism,” he said. “Every year there are new challenges. We try to anticipate and face the threat before it happens.”
Dubai Airports’ chief executive, Paul Griffiths, said that security teams at the airports are always on their toes.
“We are always vigilant, always working with police and national security … so vigilance and collective responsibility is what has kept us safe,” he said.
“We are trying to minimise disruption to the customer journey and develop new measures that will develop security standards, because obviously the threat is increasing.”
Currently, said Mr Atieh, 600 to 700 tonnes of gold and up to US$25 billion pass through Dubai airport each year.