Airbus wants you to have a better experience when flying in its commercial jets, so it’s going about that the best way it knows how – by tracking your every move.
The aerospace company has announced that it is kicking off trials of its IoT connected cabin technologies, called “the Airspace Connected Experience.” According to Airbus, the plan is for this new initiative to both enhance its ability to personalize the flying experience to each passenger and also to allow for greater operational efficiencies and added revenue streams.
The connected experience will work by tracking individual food orders, seat positions – even which movie you’ve watched, with the intent of being able to market more specific products and services to you in the future based on your individual tastes. Airbus also suggests the tech will enable passengers to order their favorite snacks and drinks ahead of time.
That seems like the direction we’re headed in as a society, so I’m not exactly surprised, but there’s another component of this whole endeavor, and it’s one passengers will be decidedly less comfortable with. Airbus is reportedly testing smart cameras that will be positioned outside of airplane lavatories to help better understand what the holdup is. Besides measuring passenger wait times, a spokesperson told Gizmodo the system could help the flight crew determine whether someone had been locked inside or is suffering from a medical event. Or something else.
For passengers who are skeeved out by this whole camera prospect, Airbus assures that they will blur the faces of passengers to offset any privacy concerns. So… you’re good.
