Singapore to roll out facial recognition for motorcyclists at land checkpoints after trials

The initiative will start at Tuas Checkpoint in the third quarter of the year.

Singapore residents, long-term pass holders and foreign visitors who have previously entered Singapore will be able to use the facial recognition feature. 

First-time foreign visitors and those re-entering Singapore with a different passport from their previous trip will need to undergo manual immigration clearance, where their faces and fingerprints will be scanned and recorded. 

They will then be able to clear immigration through the automated motorcycle lanes using the QR code generated via the MyICA mobile app and facial recognition for subsequent trips. 

More than 150,000 motorcyclists and pillion riders took part in the trials, and their feedback was used to improve the clearance experience, ICA said. 

“Based on the feedback and ground observations, ICA has enhanced the system’s ability to detect when facial features are obstructed – for example, by face masks or sunglasses – and introduced on-screen prompts to guide motorcyclists and pillion riders to remove these obstructions to enable facial scanning,” said the authority.