CBX First Land Border to Launch Facial Recognition System

The Cross Border Xpress (CBX) has become the first land border crossing to implement advanced face recognition technology for travelers. Located in San Diego, CBX connects Southern California to Mexico’s Tijuana International Airport via a pedestrian bridge and has processed nearly 30 million travelers in the past decade.

As of last week, U.S.-bound passengers can now scan their U.S. passports or passport cards while exiting the Tijuana airport. On reaching the U.S. side, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers already have access to the traveler’s biometric and citizenship data.

“This allows for an instant facial comparison and enables faster, easier, and sometimes contactless entry into the United States,” said Jorge Goytortua, CEO of CBX. 

He added that the new system would reduces the overall crossing time, already efficient, by 10 to 20 percent.

That process is now taking only an average of 18 minutes between the delivery of the luggage to its arrival at the borders. Face recognition will allow CBP to reduce the time spent inspecting people, but will allow them to minimize direct contact with the officer and still maintain a high level of identity verification.

CBX is now one of only 12 facilities across North America to adopt this level of biometric screening. The San Diego director of the CBP Field Operations, Sidney K. Aki, highlighted the shift as a way for the department to commit itself to becoming innovative in improving security.

It is innovating how people can travel across countries in a secure and seamless manner through its biometric land crossing in terms of setting a precedent.