Heartbeat passports and 3D printed buffets: Scientists reveal what travel will be like in 2070

By James On Mar 24, 2023

In the future, passengers will rush through passport control.

That’s because, according to leading scientists and futurists, “biometric heartbeat passports” will replace traditional passports, and travelers’ unique cardiac signatures will be read as a form of identification.

It’s just one of many startling revelations from easyJet’s Future Travel Report 2070, which presents a vision of how we’ll travel and holiday 50 years from now, with printed hotel buffets and “smart” airplane seats that adapt to the shape of the passenger also on the horizon.

Report authors include Birkbeck Professor Birgitte Andersen, University of London and Chief Executive of the Big Innovation Centre; Dr. Melissa Sterry, design scientist and complex systems theorist; and renowned futurists Shivvy Jervis and Dr. Patrick Dixon, as well as Cranfield University’s director of transport systems, Professor Graham Braithwaite, and Nikhil Sachdeva, director of aerospace and defense and sustainable aviation at consultancy Roland Berger. .

They detail in the report how airport travel and the air travel experience will be ‘revolutionized by technological advances’, explaining that the biometric heartbeat passport system would see passengers’ heartbeat signatures and biometric details registered in a global system’ in the same way. print scan technology works today’.

The easyJet Future Travel Report 2070 predicts that in 50 years, “smart” airplane seats will adapt to the shape of the passenger, with inflight entertainment projected directly in front of them.

By 2070, passengers’ heartbeat signatures and biometric details will be recorded in a global system, making travel through an airport seamless.

Ergonomic and biomimetic ‘sensory’ airplane seats are revealed to become the norm, with intelligent materials that not only adapt to passengers’ body shapes, but also their height, weight and temperature, to provide ‘the best personalized flight experience’.

Meanwhile, inflight entertainment “will be broadcast directly in front of passengers’ eyes, via optoelectronic devices, replacing the need for inflight screens or downloading movies before they fly.”

And e-VTOL (vertical takeoff and landing) air taxis will “eliminate airport parking shuttle service”; In addition, the trip to the airport will be faster and more convenient than ever, with 85 percent of passengers carried. from their homes to the terminal by e-VTOL, the authors of the report state.

The accommodation experience abroad will also be revolutionized, and not just thanks to 3D-printed hotel buffet food, “enabling tourists to 3D-print what they want to eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner.”

The authors predict there will be underground hotels built into the fabric of the earth ‘that are super energy efficient and environmentally friendly’.

All hotel rooms will be “smart rooms” by 2070, and guests will be able to preset bed firmness, room temperature, and listen to their favorite music when they open the door.

And suitcases won’t really be necessary, because tourists will be able to 3D print recyclable clothing on arrival, ‘tailored for the perfect fit and style’.

The green credentials of the hotels will be further enhanced by their source of energy: the footsteps of guests.

Overseas accommodation experience to be revolutionized with 3D-printed hotel buffet food

‘Time travel’ holiday experiences via haptic suits will enable visits to historic sites

TOP 15 TRAVEL PREDICTIONS TRAVELERS WANT TO SEE COME TRUE

1. ‘Time travel’ holiday experiences via haptic suits allowing visits to historical sites to see how life would have unfolded many years ago (ie seeing the Colossus of Rhodes in 280 BC) – 42%

2. Perfect airport security: using heartbeat biometric passports. 38%.

3. Submarine ‘Sea-faris’ that take tourists on aquatic adventures to the depths of the ocean – 32%.

4. Underground hotels built into the fabric of the earth that are highly energy efficient and one with the environment. 26%.

5. Smart hotels with personalized vacation rooms that adapt and configure to the needs and desires of travelers upon arrival. 25%.

6. Internal devices will be available to take on vacation to translate the local language in real time and allow visitors to speak local lingo. 24%.

7. ‘Try before you buy’ Previews of Bionic Holidays and Metaverse will be provided. tourists with a virtual experience that allows them to see, hear, smell and feel a destination before booking – 23%.

8. Ergonomic and biomimetic sensory airplane seats that adapt to the shape of the body, weight and temperature of the passengers, providing maximum comfort. twenty%.

9. 3D Printed Hotel Food Buffet Serving Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner – 19%.

10. Inflight entertainment is broadcast directly in front of passengers’ eyes, eliminating the need to download programs before they fly or the need for inflight TV screens. 18%.

11. Week-long vacation packages to the moon – 17%.

12. E-VTOL air taxis that take passengers from their home to the airport terminal, as well as transport tourists around cities abroad – 14%.

13. On-site autonomous car rental services: driverless rental vehicles that transport travelers around their vacation destination. 13%.

14. Digital Holographic Personal Concierge: Accompanies tourists to provide up-to-date information and advice about the destination. eleven%.

15. Recyclable 3D-printed vacation clothing available on arrival at the hotel, eliminating suitcases – 10%.

Source: easyJet Future Travel Report 2070.

Activities over the holidays in 2070 will include ‘time travel’, wearing haptic (or VR) suits at historic sites to immerse yourself in glorious wonders of the ancient world, and underwater ‘sea faris’ in mini-submarines.

And the internal devices will translate the local language in real time.

For the report, Britons were asked to choose which of the experts’ predictions they would like to see come true, and nine in ten (90 per cent) of British adults said they were excited or intrigued by the technological advances that travel would change. in 50 years.

Three quarters (75 per cent) of Britons say these technological advances would increase their chances of going on holiday in the future.

Science presenter Dallas Campbell brings predictions to life in video

The survey of 2,000 British adults revealed that biometric heartbeat passports and time travel holiday experiences are the travel advances the nation would most like by 2070.

Speaking of the report, easyJet CEO Johan Lundgren said: “Innovation is in our DNA and we always challenge ourselves to think big and see how we can make traveling even easier…both today and for generations to come.” From biometric heartbeat passports to time travel vacation experiences, traveling in 2070 is likely to be very different and exciting.”

TV presenter Dallas Campbell, who has brought the predictions to life in a new video, said: “Some of the predictions in the new easyJet report are absolutely astonishing – a personal favorite is the idea of being able to time travel through of haptic suits”. I would love to be able to experience the sights, sounds and atmosphere of the first Olympic Games. With everything from the airport, to the planes and to the destinations, set to evolve, travelers are in for some surprising developments as the travel industry continues to evolve and prosper.”

Leading the report, Professor Birgitte Andersen from Birkbeck College, said: “The next 50 years will bring the greatest technological advances we have ever seen in travel and tourism. Aspects of how we go on vacation will be transformed beyond recognition. In the future, tourists will queue at the hotel buffet for breakfast omelettes and fritters printed in 3D by machines, our heartbeat will become our passport, and in-ear devices will translate the local language in real time and allow us to speak. the local slang.

“Looking forward to 2070, the destinations we fly to, the type of accommodation we stay in, and the experiences we have will all have changed enormously.”