Airbus Is Using Sensors To Track Passengers In Plane, Counting Their Bathroom Visits As Well

Airbus is currently testing its A350-900, a wide-body aircraft that's loaded with sensors from top to bottom.

The idea is these will help airlines keep the planes in tiptop shape with less manpower. Apparently, that also means sensors in some truly weird places.

Images courtesy: Airbus

The new A350-900 has sensors for practically everything, in order to monitor passengers' flying habits. This means everything from how much coffee you drink, to the most popular snacks, even how many times the door of the lavatory is opened.

The plan is to help airlines keep track of all this data so they can better manage their planes' inventories. Additionally, things like how often and how much seat backs are reclined, can help them perform maintenance checks in a more efficient fashion, keeping everything in working order without wasting manpower.

This also benefits Airbus, as it can help them figure out things like how to add more overhead storage or make seats more comfortable in the long run. It could even possibly serve to improve things like an aircraft's fuel efficiency, which in turn might make flight tickets cheaper.

The only problem is, that involves the collection and analysis of a lot of data. There's a lot of scope for things to go very wrong, not to mention for people to get paranoid and lawsuit-happy when airlines inevitably don't disclose all the data being collected.

It's a scary world we live in where your every walk down the aisle to the bathroom might be monitored.