Facial recognition systems have been introduced to a long-distance bus station in Urumqi, capital of Northwest China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, following 2014's implementation of a real-name ticket buying systems nationwide.
The Nanjiao long distance bus station is the first in Urumqi to use facial recognition systems. The system was developed by a research institute under the Ministry of Public Security.
The technology aims to enhance the implementation of the real-name system when tickets are sold and when passengers make their journeys.
A camera will take a picture of passengers' faces, which recognition software will then compare to a picture of the ticket-buyer stored on a digital database.
The two pictures will have to match, and passengers will need to provide their identity cards and bus tickets before they can enter the station.
The system should help stop people entering the station using others' identity cards.
Urumqi has been hit by several terror attacks. A blast at its largest railway station on April 30 last year killed three people and injured over 70, while another attack at a market last May killed 31 people and injured more than 90 others.
