EMT Madrid to pilot biometric payments and blockchain-based app for public transport
Empresa Municipal de Transportes de Madrid (EMT Madrid), along with Mastercard, Banco Santander, and Saffe, has launched a six-month pilot to implement biometric payment on buses in Madrid public transport. The pilot is a part of the ‘Madrid in Motion’ project, an initiative of the Madrid City Council and Barrabés to promote open innovation focused on mobility.
The pilot will begin from October 2019 and will be tested amongst a group of 100 users on an EMT Madrid bus line. The users can download the EMT mobile application (app), enter their payment details, and take a picture of their face to start using biometric payment. Once the process is completed, the user can validate their tickets by showing their face to a facial-recognition camera and complete the purchase and payment of the ticket in a single gesture.
Madrid public transport
After the completion of the pilot, the user experience, scalability, and integration with operators and MaaS solutions (Mobility as a Service) will be evaluated. If the pilot is successful, the new technology will be deployed on other lines of the network.
In addition, EMT Madrid has announced its collaboration with Banco Santander and start-up firm Vottun to develop and test an integrated app, based on blockchain technology, for the payment of all mobility applications on a pilot basis. Vottun will be responsible for the development of a unified payment system. This pilot is also a part of the ‘Madrid in Motion’ project.
“The onboarding and validation process of user information will be the same for all the mobility services offered in Madrid through the EMT app,”
said Rohan Hall, CEO of Vottun
Further, EMT Madrid is testing two more pilots under the ‘Madrid in Motion’ project. One of the pilot projects involves MaaS as a solution for multiple and simultaneous electric charging centres. The other involves the validation of the Park & Go concept for the city through the combination of a MaaS platform (developed by Iomob Technologies OU) and parking lots controlled by EMT.
