BLUESMART
R
olling luggagehas been
the crutch of business
travelers formore than 25
years now, proven quite
audibly by the tiled floors of Dallas/
FortWorth International Airport and
thebrick streets of TriBeCa. Yet even
though these rolling cases have found
theirway intothehandsofnearlyevery
business traveler on the planet, their
designhas seen little innovation. Sure,
weall lovethefancy largewheelsorthe
anodizedaluminumhandles, butas far
asgroundbreakingupdates,theindustry
hasbeencontent tonoisilyrollalong.
Ahandfulofstartupshopetochange
that coursewith a newwave of tech-
nologyhitting themarket andanarmy
of crowdfunding supporters eager to
ridealong.
The innovation is largely driven
by theboom inmobile and embedded
technologiescenteredonsmartphones.
Significant advances inGPS technol-
ogy and 3G networks now allow for
better hand-held tracking of phones
and thedeviceswithwhich they sync.
Bluetoothhasbecomeboth inexpensive
and low-powerenoughtorunpassively
onanyone’shandset.
Thosearethethreecoretechnologies
drivingBluesmart,anAmericanstartup
thatrecentlyclosedahighlysuccessful
LUGGAGEGETSSMARTER
Can’tfindyoursuitcase?Checkyourphone.
How the travel-bag industry is innovating.
86
JUNE2015
AMERICANWAY
Technology, like thekind
that runsyour tablet,will
bring luggage into the
future for travelers.
TECH
ByGrantMartin
