When you're running late, you're weighed-down with DIY in-flight entertainment and your gate number gets switched at the last minute, the last thing you need is a real-life human trying to be helpful. The Port Authority knows that, which is why it's promising to install "computerized, hologram-like avatars" in La Guardia, Newark and JFK terminal buildings by early July. The virtual assistants aren't actually holographic -- judging from the video after the break (courtesy of Transportation Nation), they appear to consist of either projected or LCD video displayed on a vaguely human-shaped static board, although given their reported $250,000 price tag we might (hopefully) be missing something. Oh, and they aren't even interactive, unless you try to push them over.
[Photo Credit: Jim O'Grady/WNYC]
Continue reading Customer service avatars coming to JFK, La Guardia, Newark airports (video)
Customer service avatars coming to JFK, La Guardia, Newark airports (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 22 May 2012 07:44:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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