BRIT holidaymakers returning home will be able to avoid long passport queues by using facial recognition.
Families will not have to leave their cars and will instead drive a set of high-powered cameras that will scan their faces and match them to official records.
The technology will be used at ports to match their faces with passport and car details already logged in government databases.
Similar “contactless corridors” are being planned for airports, where all travellers will be scanned automatically and be able to walk to the exit when returning to the UK.
The cameras, which are being trialled at four ports since November – are designed to cut queues that build up during busy holiday periods.
A source told The Telegraph: “Under the new system, instead of getting your passports out, you look at the camera.
“They have these really high-powered cameras that can look through the windscreen and take a picture of your face and match it to the face on the database.
“Assuming all is well, then you get the green light and you drive through the border.
“The other option is that you wind down your window and you all look at an iPad.
“The aim is to use the technology on maritime and rail routes, then on air routes.”
Only “passengers of interest” highlighted as a risk because of intelligence, safeguarding concerns or questions over their identity will have to undergo manual checks by a Border Force officer on arrival.
Four companies have been involved in trialling the technology and it could be introduced within the next year.
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