Sheremetyevo Airport to have electronic assistants for passengers

70 interactive electronic “assistants” will appear at Sheremetyevo Airport, Maxim Kretov, managing partner of NeuroPort, told Vedomosti at the Transport Week 2022 exhibition and forum. NeuroPort is the manufacturer of these interactive systems. “Helpers” are developed jointly with the airport itself. They will be placed, according to Kretov, in terminals B and C in March 2023 as part of commercial operation.

A completely domestic complex is a monitor with a database that is able to recognize a person by his image, thanks to the face recognition system loaded into it. The system will become an alternative to the check-in counter, it will also be loaded with navigation equipment, flight schedules, a parking meter, a bank office and Duty Free.

The complex allows serving passengers faster and more efficiently, Kretov says. According to him, the interactive system can become an additional source of non-aviation income in the future, and the average session of waiting, queues, inspections, document checks will be reduced several times. “Interactive assistants are also going to be purchased by other Russian airports. In addition, the Dubai International Airport became interested in the product,” says Kretov.

The cost of one product ranges from 150,000 to 1 million rubles. – depending on the interface, a source close to Sheremetyevo told Vedomosti.

Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin also became interested in the development of NeuroPort during his tour of the Transport Week 2022 exhibition and forum on November 15, Anna Zakharenkova, director of public relations at the airport, told Vedomosti. According to her, Mishustin looked at the functionality of the “assistant” and gave recommendations for refinement and improvement in terms of user interfaces.

As one of the development engineers of the complex told Vedomosti, the system recognized Mishustin and wished him a pleasant flight. “Most of all, the prime minister appreciated the option with Duty Free,” the interlocutor joked.

Under the conditions of foreign policy circumstances, the task of developing domestic solutions for the air transport industry acquires strategic importance, Zakharenkova noted. According to her, the new information assistants will become an actual component of the airport’s digital ecosystem as an example of an effective alternative to foreign solutions and programs.

NeuroPort is a full-cycle Russian high-tech company with its own software platform, design office and production, interface and digital content development factory, network management system for droids and smart devices, monetization, data collection and sales tools. The company was created for a project at Sheremetyevo Airport. Today it employs 50 developers. Workshops and an office for programming and production are located in Voronezh.