SMART LUGGAGE
After smart phones, no one should be surprised if our luggage and apparel become smart. By that I don’t mean that your bag will begin to talk to you (though to some people it may be already, on a deep level) and do things by itself. I do mean, though, that it may become smart enough to prevent itself from doing what luggage tends to do a lot.
Getting lost.
If only I had a ‘like’ for every time I misplaced a bag at a railway station, or for the number of times my luggage got lost in airports. It usually comes back, of course, but often it doesn’t. So if you buy into this concept of smart luggage, you will never have to lose your bag again.
How is that possible, you ask? Well, three words: Global Positioning System. There is a GPS everywhere now, in your car, in your phone, in your tablet – not much of a stretch to suggest that your baggage should have a chip too, which keeps transmitting to a satellite its whereabouts. The great thing is that once a bag goes to a place that it shouldn’t go to, it can be programmed to send its owner a text message saying that it’s lost.
So you shouldn’t have to wait until you get to your destination to find out something’s wrong. You get to know straight away, and you can jump immediately to your bag’s rescue.
Though details such as how to keep these signals from interfering with the flight’s communication are being worked out, the technology is already here. In a few months’ time you may be communicating on your mobile phone with your luggage.
Strange, strange world!
