Customer service avatars coming to JFK, La Guardia, Newark airports (video)
![](https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/ugB5gT5SUF3madNzQAb0hg--/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTk2MDtoPTcyMA--/https://s.yimg.com/uu/api/res/1.2/ON7lpnvYzSItpSS7fTQ0tg--~B/aD00NTA7dz02MDA7YXBwaWQ9eXRhY2h5b24-/https://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2012/05/airport-avatar.jpg)
When you're running late, you're weighed-down with DIY in-flight entertainment and your gate number gets switched at the last minute, the last thing you need is a real-life human trying to be helpful. The Port Authority knows that, which is why it's promising to install "computerized, hologram-like avatars" in La Guardia, Newark and JFK terminal buildings by early July. The virtual assistants aren't actually holographic -- judging from the video after the break (courtesy of Transportation Nation), they appear to consist of either projected or LCD video displayed on a vaguely human-shaped static board, although given their reported $250,000 price tag we might (hopefully) be missing something. Oh, and they aren't even interactive, unless you try to push them over.
[Photo Credit: Jim O'Grady/WNYC]