Thales has released a new card reader that simultaneously scans both sides of an identity document. The company is hoping that the Intelligent ID Card Reader CR5400i will meet the identity proofing needs of customer-facing establishments during the COVID-19 pandemic.
To that end, users do not need to make physical contact with the CR5400i in order to scan a card. They simply drop a driver’s license (or some other piece of identification) into the top of the reader, and the reader ejects the ID once the scan is complete. As a result, customers never need to hand their document to an employee, and can safely observe social distancing requirements during the check.
The CR5400i can be deployed remotely, and connects to a central network via Wi-Fi. All documents are analyzed in the cloud, as part of a screening process that takes less than four seconds to complete. Thales is pitching the device to hotels, retail outlets, financial institutions, and other businesses that regularly need to check IDs in the course of doing business.
“With the new double-sided reader the user experience is smooth while the service provider can fight ID fraud benefitting from a flexible and easy-to-integrate solution,” said Thales Document Reading Director James MacLean. “In addition, the COVID-19 context has brought new challenges that Thales’ intelligent ID card reader answers with its touch-free feature.”
While the CR5400i will speed up service for people with physical cards, Thales itself has steadily been working to introduce digital identity documents. The company recently agreed to provide digital driver’s licenses for the state of Florida, and for the Queensland Department of Transport and Main Roads in Australia.
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