Heathrow Airport to get taxi-tracking RFID system

London's Heathrow Airport is deploying radio frequency identification (RFID) tags in taxi fleets to monitor and manage demand on behalf of arriving passengers who need transport away from the airport.

The chips in the taxis will identify the car and the driver and transmit the information to handheld devices used by the taxi management agents at the feeder park and in terminal ranks at the airport.

The system is modelled on one already in use at Paris Charles de Gaulle airport and is being deployed at Heathrow by British Airports Authority (BAA), which is working with IT services company Steria. It replaces a PC-based system currently in use and BAA claims it will make it easier to respond to any unplanned factors affecting the dispatch of taxis, such as roadworks.

Using automatic vehicle and driver identification RFID technology from supplier NEDAP, BAA hopes the system will enable to managers ensure the optimum numbers of taxis on the ranks at each of Heathrow's terminals.

Steve Cumber, onward travel manager at BAA, said in a statement: "Our existing system has reached the end of its useful life in both hardware and software terms. We needed software with the flexibility to manage the changing needs of our customers and the business."

Earlier this week in an interview with silicon.com, Ric Francis, CIO of supermarket chain Safeway said RFID will become ubiquitous and that privacy and standards issues will be overcome because the technology is too important.