Swiss Federal Railways to stop using algorithm that assesses gender and age of passengers

After a campaign from civil society, the Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) backed down from a plan to deploy software that would have automatically assessed the age and gender of passengers. The SBB has announced that it will discontinue a pilot project aimed at managing passenger flows by segmenting the platform areas into separate zones for boarding and alighting. Instead, SBB will focus on its core functions, such as increasing train punctuality, expanding rail services and digitalising its processes. SBB will continue to explore innovative solutions to optimise passenger flows, including the use of data analysis and machine learning techniques.