Smart luggage lets passengers track, lock bags with smartphones

Global Business

A new product hopes to help airplane travelers better locate their luggage. CCTV America’s Mark Niu reported the story from Mountain View, California.

Smart luggage lets passengers track, lock bags with smartphones

A new product hopes to help airplane travelers better locate their luggage. CCTV America's Mark Niu reported the story from Mountain View, California.

At McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas, passenger Leonard Hart experienced the dreaded baggage hunt. Despite major improvement last year, airlines worldwide still mishandled 22 million bags, costing the industry $2 billion.

“Hopefully, it’s just misplaced, but I’m not happy because my family’s waiting for me,” Hart said.

Brian Chen, co-founder of Bluesmart, believes he has a solution. The former MIT business student moved to Silicon Valley to build a startup that creates smart luggage.

“There’s smart watches, smart thermostats, why don’t we have smart luggage? How can we use hardware and software to solve problems among the entire travel path?” Chen said.

The Bluesmart suitcase contains a battery that can charge mobile devices six times over – eliminating the need to crowd around a public charging station. Bluesmart can be locked, unlocked, and even weighed, by smartphone. Most importantly, it contains a GPS that can tell passengers where their bag is at all times.

“Everything is here in the top piece of the suitcase. We have a bunch of electronic modules that permit you to control from your phone and actuate certain things on the suitcase… we’re super excited about shipping this product, and hopefully, nobody else is gonna lose a suitcase anymore,” co-founder Diego Gil said.

The $280 suitcase already has 7,000 pre-orders after Bluesmart took to crowdfunding site Indigogo with hopes of raising $50,000. They reached that goal in two hours, and have now raised about $1.9 million.