2070: The future of travel report
What do the cutting-edge of STEM, design and innovation more generally suggest is in store for the travel industry here through 2070? Together with peers including Prof. Birgitte Andersen, Dr. Patrick Dixon, Prof. Graham Braithwaite, I contributed to an easyJet commissioned report that seeks to answer that question.
Launched today, the predictions in the report have been brought to life in a short film presented by Dallas Campbell and a series of illustrations.
Extracts:
“There will be no queues for check-in or security – in fact, there will be no apparent barriers to hold you up. “Airport security infrastructure will be incredibly sophisticated,” says Dr. Melissa Sterry, “but at the same time less obtrusive.” As you walk into the airport, facial recognition software will have noted your arrival, identified you, matched you with your booked flight and sent messages to your personal devices like a phone or smart watch to direct you onwards. Your baggage, with smart data tags embedded in your suitcases, is automatically unloaded from train or taxi and sent directly to the right aircraft, undergoing biological, chemical and imaging scans on the way. “‘Going through security’ or ‘passport control’ will be meaningless terms,” says Dr. Dixon. “You will not be aware of any sort of checks, but you too will be scanned and tracked as you move through the airport.”
Professor Birgitte Andersen agrees, and goes one further to say, “To track luggage and goods, the digital passport will be combined with trip information and suitcase identification”
“Biomimetic design – copying efficiencies found in nature – will revolutionise aircraft seating and comfort,” says Dr. Melissa Sterry. “Currently, seats are standardised partly for safety reasons, but innovation in materials science will see the creation of lighter yet stronger materials, for a tailored comfort experience at the same time as maintaining safety.” Seats will no longer be ‘one size fits all’, but you will be able to book the kind of seat most appropriate to your body type, accommodating your height and build. Smart materials could cater for your personal temperature preferences, cooling you down or warming you up, and include antimicrobial elements for enhanced hygiene.”
“The design of new hotels will change too, in ways that respect the planet. “The most forward-thinking architects have already envisaged ways to do more with less space,” says Dr. Sterry. “Hoteliers need to be able to shape-shift their facilities to meet wide-ranging customer demands. Rooms could be separated by movable walls, to divide a double room into two singles, or expand it into a family room to accommodate two adults and their children, depending on demand.” Such adaptability could mean the end of the ‘single supplement’ that penalises solo travellers, while fold-down beds and pull-out furniture will make smaller spaces more flexible and feel bigger. “
“Dr. Melissa Sterry tells us. “Forms of MR – mixed reality – will overlay images on the landscape to visually reconstruct what happened there: a famous battle, the troops surging around you, being sat amongst the cheering crowd at the very first Olympic games. In darker locations, this could be in the form of a projected hologram, while in bright light you might wear a lightweight headset or glasses. Haptic suits could intensify the experience, to make you feel with every fibre of your body that you are actually there, experiencing it just as they would have all those years ago.”
Read more here.