This security check line in the city of Hangzhou looks modest compared to lines in Beijing during rush hour
The Beijing Subway plans to introduce security screenings that use an AI-powered camera system to divide passengers into groups.
When passengers enter a station, facial recognition will check them against a database. If the system prompts security staff, other security measures will be adopted, according to Zhan Minghui, director of Beijing Rail Traffic Control Center.
The new checks are supposed to make transiting faster, which has been a major pain point for one of the world's busiest metro systems.
Unlike most places, Chinese subways often apply security measures similar to ones seen at an airport. There are bag checks, body checks and metal detectors. And while people aren’t required to take out their electronic devices, passengers are often asked to take a sip of any beverage they’re carrying for security reasons.
All of this has predictably created huge lines of people waiting to enter the station during rush hour. Beijing recorded 3.85 billion subway trips in 2018 alone. On one particular day in July, the subway had 13.7 million trips. That's a lot of miserable commuters, so subway authorities are looking for a smarter way to pick out the “bad guys.”