"Walk-Through Facial Recognition Ticket Gate" installed at 130 Osaka Metro stations wins the 2025 Nikkei Superior Products and Services Award Grand Prize

January 5, 2026
Osaka Municipal Subway Corporation
Takamizawa Cybernetics Co., Ltd.
Panasonic Connect Co., Ltd.

Osaka Municipal Subway Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Nishi-ku, Osaka; President and CEO: Hideaki Kawai; hereinafter "Osaka Metro"), Takamizawa Cybernetics Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Nakano-ku, Tokyo; President and CEO: Kazuo Takamizawa; hereinafter "Takamizawa Cybernetics"), and Panasonic Connect Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Chuo-ku, Tokyo; President and CEO: Yasuyuki Higuchi, hereinafter "Panasonic Connect") jointly introduced a Walk-Through Facial Recognition Ticket Gate that currently operates at 130 Osaka Metro stations. This system received the Grand Prize at the 2025 Nikkei Superior Products and Services Awards on Monday, January 5, 2026.

Developed and introduced as part of efforts toward cashless and ticketless fare gates for the 2025 Osaka-Kansai Expo, this gate aims to solve issues such as ticket loss, unauthorized passage, and inconvenience for wheelchair users or those with luggage during traditional fare gate use, thereby realizing more convenient and comfortable travel. Installed at 130 stations by Osaka Metro, it combines Panasonic Connect's world-leading facial recognition technology* with a futuristic functionality design by Takamizawa Cybernetics. It enables walk-through passage at speeds comparable to conventional IC cards, even when passengers wear masks, glasses, or other accessories.

This award recognized the system's high accuracy, which remains robust against changes in users' faces over time and accurately authenticates even when masks are worn. It also highly evaluated the system's potential to become the next-generation standard in the railway industry through the widespread adoption of this technology, leading to the award of the Grand Prize. Moving forward, the three companies will continue to leverage their respective service and technological strengths to enhance convenience for railway users.

*Ranked first globally in the NIST FRTE 1:1 evaluation results released on November 6, 2022, achieving a false acceptance rate (FAR) of 1 in 100,000 for Mugshot data (front-facing facial data including racial and aging variations). False Acceptance Rate: 1 in 100,000) in the NIST FRTE 1:1 evaluation results published on November 6, 2022. Furthermore, in the NIST FRTE 1:N evaluation results (search accuracy) published on March 26, 2024, it achieved the world's top rank in two evaluation categories: Mugshot (front-facing face data including aging changes. 1.6 million registered individuals) and Border (face data including changes in facial orientation and image quality degradation. 1.6 million registered individuals).

■About the Nikkei Superior Products and Services Awards

The Nikkei Superior Products and Services Awards, established in 1982 and now in its 44th year, are presented by Nikkei Inc. to recognize particularly outstanding new products and services each year. Winners are determined through comprehensive evaluation by external experts across multiple criteria, including technological innovation, growth potential, uniqueness, and impact on industry and society.

・2025 Nikkei Superior Products and Services Awards URL https://www.nikkei.com/edit/news/special/newpro/2025/

■Osaka Municipal Subway Corporation
https://www.osakametro.co.jp/

■Takamizawa Cybernetics Co., Ltd.
https://www.tacy.co.jp/

■Panasonic Connect Co., Ltd.
https://connect.panasonic.com/en/