This Smart Airplane Tracks Your Bathroom Breaks

Published: Oct. 2, 2019, 3 p.m.

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Airbus wants you to have a better experience when flying in its commercial jets, so it\\u2019s going about that the best way it knows how \\u2013 by tracking your every move.

The aerospace company has announced that it is kicking off trials of its IoT connected cabin technologies, called \\u201cthe Airspace Connected Experience.\\u201d 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 \\u2013 even which movie you\\u2019ve 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\\u2019re headed in as a society, so I\\u2019m not exactly surprised, but there\\u2019s another component of this whole endeavor, and it\\u2019s 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\\u2026 you\\u2019re good.

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