AutoBorder focuses on developing and implementing innovative solutions for border checks specifically designed for vehicles. The approach leverages cutting-edge technologies, including advanced biometrics and in-car sensors integrated with the car's Infotainment and Control Electronics (ICE) system, to streamline the border-crossing process. By utilizing Digital Travel Credentials (DTCs) and pre-registration systems, the project aims to enhance security while significantly reducing waiting times at land borders. Beyond border checks, the technology enhances passenger security through identity monitoring, real-time alerts for unauthorized access, and predictive analytics for threat detection. This dual-purpose approach improves identity verification and passenger safety during travel, advancing security and connectivity across Europe. Leading actors in several relevant fields actively participate in the project, including biometrics and security experts, car manufacturers and researchers. The project builds on prior EU initiatives (e.g., SMILE, D4FLY, EINSTEIN) and, as a RIA project, targets a Technology Readiness Level (TRL) of 5–6 for most components, with some at TRL4. Validation and demonstration will occur in relevant environments, not connected to actual border systems. Solutions must comply with GDPR, the AI Act, EU travel regulations, and other legal and ethical standards. A dedicated legal/ethical partner will ensure compliance, while social aspects like acceptance and human rights will be addressed. End-user involvement is critical, providing feedback to align solutions with practical needs and enabling pilot demonstrations and validations. AutoBorder involves several EU and non-EU end-users, and has foreseen pilot studies at 2 external EU BCPs (UK-France and Moldova - Romania)

Identity theft is rapidly expanding, causing substantial financial loss to millions of people all around the world. This invisible crime is also widespread across EU countries, where a growing number of citizens is targeted by sophisticated fraudulent attacks each year, both offline and online. 56% of Europeans have experienced at least one type of fraud in the last two years. European security officials speak of an “epidemic” created by a spike in demand from asylum-seekers and from terrorists carrying counterfeit documents to enter the EU. Security documents are increasingly being counterfeited or tampered with by criminals to facilitate transnational crime. The continued vulnerability of different types of identity and travel documents makes it extremely difficult to combat this problem. SafeTravellers value proposition aims at a) strengthening the security at the borders, b) improving the productivity of the Border Authorities and LEAs by providing them with the appropriate tools to combat identity fraud at the hardware, identity and travel document, and biometrics level, while c) offering a frictionless border crossing experience for EU/TCN citizens as they will not have to stop at the border checkpoints. SafeTravellers is both proposing a new way of citizen identification based on multiple biometrics instead of the problematic identity document, as well as an enhancement of the current way of identity verification at the borders through a set of tools that will detect attacks at the biometric hardware, identity and travel document fraud and attempts to falsify biometrics. The proposed solution is GDPR compliant and introduces various privacy-preserving mechanisms to safeguard the citizens' rights. Through the distributed European Multi-Biometric Data Space offered by SafeTravellers, each Member State will keep in its jurisdiction the personal data of its country nationals while allowing cross-border identity checks without transferring or revealing any biometric data.

Though difficult to quantify, the variety of possible ID document frauds at borders is a reality that threatens politicians holding responsibility for borders as well as EU citizens. Based on the needs expressed by practitioners, the iMARS consortium has shaped a project that will: 1/ improve the operational capacity of passport application and border control operators by providing both - short-term adhoc solutions ensuring reliable passport application procedures - and mid-term solutions with no-reference and differential analysis solutions that can in particular detect manipulated and morphed passport images as well as document fraud. iMARS will provide: • Image morphing and manipulation attack detection solutions to assess ID documents validity against document fraud, during enrolment and renewal steps, as well as at the border crossing stations • Document verification and fraud detection solutions to support border guards in the verification process by providing mobile tools that can check document’s integrity To reach the targeted TRL6, these technologies will be validated in laboratory conditions using operational data collected from six border control sites (with border to countries outside EU). 2/ ensure the uptake of its outcomes after the project’s end. iMARS will: • promote usability/ergonomic aspects by providing training, guidelines and best practices to border guards and passport application officers • contribute to the ongoing standardisation efforts in the field of Presentation Attack Detection and face image quality • provide open access benchmarks (2 datasets with multiple enrolment morphed face images and border gate probe images) on a specific testing platform serving follow-on research activities • ensure that the technologies developed are accepted by citizens and respect privacy and legal EU regulations.

PopEye unique value proposition focuses on a) strengthening the security at the external EU borders through fusing robust biometric technologies for verification and identification, b) maximising the travellers’ experience when crossing the external EU borders through unobtrusive on-the-move biometric technologies, c) improving the productivity of Border Authorities and Law Enforcement Agencies in performing identification and verification of people on the move and without stopping them, at up to 200m distance, when multiple travellers cross borders, on foot or inside the same vehicle, in different nature e.g. open-air conditions, night, time, time constraints, space constraints, etc. PopEye will introduce novel and robust biometric technologies in the five areas identified by the aforementioned Frontex report combined with gait recognition, in order to maximise the impact and the return on investment in short term. PopEye through the proposed technologies will support both EU and Third Country Nationals (TCN) citizens, will be compliant with existing and upcoming regulations such as GDPR and AI Act, will comply with the Ethics Guidelines on Trustworthy AI (2019), will empower the EU values and fundamental rights, including on data protection and avoid bias and discrimination.