AUSTIN, Texas -- South by Southwest is talking about taking facial recognition technology to new heights - literally.  

In the future, you may not need a boarding pass, checkpoint lines might be shorter and you might routinely take a selfie at security. 

“We’re making sure that the document you present is your document and that you belong to it, and therefore we’re just adding another layer of security to the system,” said Neville Pattinson, the senior vice president of federal government sales for Gemalto.

Gemalto, an international digital security company, has its North American headquarters in Austin. 

Biometric technology makes the match possible by scanning a traveler's fingerprints, irises or the unique characteristics of his or her face. Experts say those structures do not change after the age of 15. 

“Even though you grow beards or have make up or different hairstyles, generally the structure of your face is the same and we can basically compare that very, very nicely,” Pattinson said.

Thursday, at a SXSW session called "Now Boarding Securely: Facial Recognition & Travel," Pattinson said there is a projected growth of travelers around the world, catalyzing the need to speed up the process and create convenience. 

“That’s going to increase the lines, increase the amount of people try to be processed at the airports, seaports as well, land ports, so we have to become more efficient in terms of using the technology to expedite them, but also still maintain the high level of security that we know,” he said. 

Government agencies, airports, and airlines including JetBlue and Delta have already began testing ways to use these technologies for more secure or more convenient airport experiences. Facial recognition technology is still not quite perfect. For example, there are still limitations to identifying differences between twins. Meanwhile, some say cutting clearance times may sound great, but at what cost? 

"Privacy is something we take very seriously," Pattinson said. "This is not a technology that would be used for tracking, this has to do with identification getting into a building, getting into an airport, checking your bags, boarding your plane. After we use that they’re discarded."