The Moscow Metro has launched the testing of the Face Pay technology with participation of passengers, Banki.ru reports with reference to the press service of the Moscow Department of Transport and Road Infrastructure Development.

“We are starting the most important phase of the testing – passenger engagement. Metro employees are already using this service, and they have completed more than 1 million successful passes to date. Then, we will gradually test the technology from line to line, starting with the Filevskaya,” said Maksim Liksutov, Deputy Mayor of Moscow for Transport.

At the first stage, the testing will involve 1,000 passengers. “We will gradually connect all lines to the testing and increase the focus group, and by the end of the year, the service will be available at all stations, as we promised,” the Transport Department said in a statement.

According to the management, the Moscow Metro leads in the transport industry by the number of fare payment methods, and all of them will remain available. Face Pay is going to become one more convenient service for the passengers, but not a mandatory method. “We are certain that tens of thousands of Moscow residents, who follow trends and love modern technologies, will choose this new service,” said the department’s press service.

Previously, Maksim Liksutov has told RIA Novosti that the testing of the technology has been underway for several months.

“The testing involves our employees and partners, who became participants in the focus groups. They provided their biometric data and added their bank cards, and when they pass through the turnstile, the money is debited from the card. This is how it works. You stop at the right side turnstile, the system recognizes you, debits money from your bank card in a second and a half, and you walk through without touching anything, without taking out your phone, card, or anything.

We want Moscow to become one of the first in the world to launch a face recognition system for payment at such a massive scale,” said Liksutov.

In an interview with Bloomberg, Maksim Liksutov disclosed that all personal data would be stored by the side of banks. “We only receive an electronic code, like from a credit card,” he said, adding that the metro was working on that with all the largest banks that used with biometrics.

The new technology will be able to recognize a face even when the passenger is wearing a mask - the share of successful recognition is over 70%.

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