Smart luggage to get smarter … then it may pack it in altogether

Smart luggage is about to get smarter in a myriad of ways over the coming five years – but then experts believe suitcases could virtually disappear altogether as the next generation of travellers will send an email ahead to have hired clothes delivered to their holiday destinations.

Luggage is about to get smarter with the next generation of technological embeddings but then suitcases may disappear altogether from airport carousels Image by George Kelly / CC BY 2.0

Already GPS tracking and messaging luggage have made it easier for passengers to locate their luggage on the carousel or if it should go missing in transit. Now your suitcase will get several upgrades in the coming years as embedded technology revolutionises the luggage world just like wheels on suitcases did 40 years ago.

The CEO of the luggage company Samsonite, Ramesh Tainwala is adamant that smart luggage is not a passing fad but is here to stay. The Guardian reports that the next generation of smart luggage will allow suitcases to communicate with their owners on one side and the carriers which handle them on the other.

So how can travellers expect to benefit? Luggage that checks itself in at airports sound good and is on the way, while your suitcase of the future will follow you around like a dog thanks to the motorisation that is planned for it. Then there will be biometric fingerprint locking, self-weighing digital scales, and Bluetooth speakers that can make a phone or a boom box out of your suitcase.

Richard Cope, who is a trends analyst at the research group Mintel, said in essence smart luggage was feeding off the paranoia passengers have about things not going quite ok with their suitcase. The worry for authorities is the possibility that GPS-tracking luggage could wreak havoc in airports. But Mr Cope believes that it won’t be too deep into the future before travellers won’t bother to pack at all.

He predicts that instead when holiday-makers reach their destination, they will already have hired the clothes, shoes and other accroutrements they need for the duration of our stay. “That’s where we’re headed,” he says, explaining that travelling will go from smart   luggage to virtually none at all.