The hardest part of border inspection is no longer simply producing a clear X-ray image. It is turning that image, together with the information surrounding a shipment, into a confident decision quickly enough to protect the border without turning security into a bottleneck.
That challenge is becoming more complex. Customs authorities are managing enormous flows of vehicles and cargo while trafficking methods continue to evolve. UNODC reported record levels of potential cocaine manufacture and seizures in 2024, while Europol has highlighted greater diversification in maritime cocaine trafficking, including the use of smaller ports, at-sea transfers and increasingly sophisticated concealment methods.
Effective border security increasingly depends not simply on scanning more cargo, but on extracting more useful information from every connected inspection and getting it to the operators who need to act.
Inspection has to match the operation
Non-intrusive inspection has transformed the ability of customs authorities to examine vehicles and containers without routinely unloading or physically searching them. But the requirements at a busy land border, a container terminal or a rail crossing can be very different.
Some locations need to inspect high volumes of commercial vehicles while maintaining traffic flow. Others require high-energy imaging of densely loaded containers, the flexibility to move inspection capability between locations, or the ability to screen freight trains with minimal disruption.
Smiths Detection’s high-energy cargo and vehicle portfolio reflects these different operating environments. Drive-through portal systems such as HCVP support high-volume border crossings, while mobile HCVM systems can deploy inspection capability where it is needed. Stationary and gantry configurations support permanent sensitive sites, while HCVT extends non-intrusive inspection to rail freight.
The value lies in matching inspection capability to the realities of the border: traffic volumes, cargo types, infrastructure, risk profile and the speed at which legitimate trade needs to move.
Seeing inside the cargo is only the beginning
Europol has documented cocaine concealed inside industrial machinery, attached beneath vessel hulls and chemically incorporated into legitimate materials. These methods underline an important reality: no single technology or control can address the full range of trafficking threats.
High-energy X-ray inspection allows operators to examine loaded vehicles and containers quickly and non-intrusively. Advanced imaging can provide more information about what is inside, helping officers recognise inconsistencies, unusual densities or areas that merit closer attention.
Systems such as Smiths Detection’s HCVS and Multi Energy Portal (HCV MEP) provide multiple X-ray views, while all HCV configurations incorporate material discrimination to help operators distinguish between different types of material contents.
The opportunity is not simply to produce a better image, but to make that image easier to interrogate, combine it with wider information and turn it into a faster, better-informed operational decision.
For decision and trackability, the multi sensor system displays and archive automatically all data the operator treat, and create a customer reference for future decision and inspection, via operator or artificial intelligence.
From image interpretation to decision support
Artificial intelligence and advanced image processing can strengthen that process.
Smiths Detection’s iCMORE applies object-recognition algorithms to cargo, vehicle and container X-ray images to assist operators in identifying potential threats and contraband. Augmented X-Ray (AXR) uses image-processing algorithms to extract additional information from the scan and help operators identify areas where a more targeted physical inspection may be required.
Used well, these technologies do not remove the operator from the process. They strengthen the operator’s ability to focus attention, increasing inspection reliability and fast decision.
Border officers work within a wider risk picture that can include declarations, intelligence, routing information, previous inspections and knowledge of emerging concealment techniques. AI can help identify what deserves attention; advanced imaging can reveal more of what is present. Human judgement determines what the information means and what action should follow.
The direction of travel is not towards automated inspection in isolation, but towards better-supported decision-making.
Connecting intelligence across the border
The same principle applies beyond an individual scanner.
The World Customs Organization’s Unified File Format initiative is designed to make images and associated inspection data from different non-intrusive inspection systems easier to exchange and analyse. Its development supports centralised image analysis, cross-border image sharing and image libraries that can contribute to operator training and automated threat-recognition capabilities.
Supported on true Open Architecture (OA) principles enabling interoperability across multiple technologies, ELECTORA, our digital security management platform, integrates multi-vendor devices, applications and datasets into one scalable, cyber-secure environment. Connecting inspection systems, images, data and expertise across locations can create a clearer operational picture. Centralised teams can support several border crossings, combine scan results with customs and risk information, and share intelligence on new concealment methods, and allow the Customs organization to reach the 100% screening objective.
Smiths Detection has supported this model in practice. In El Salvador, high-energy vehicle and cargo inspection has been combined with centralised management of X-ray images and associated customs data. More recently, the country’s customs authorities selected HCVP drive-through portals and HCVM mobile systems, combining permanent high-volume capacity with the flexibility to reinforce screening as operational needs change.
The broader shift is clear: the future of cargo inspection is not one scanner or one algorithm, but a connected environment in which inspection systems, images, data and people work together to create a clearer operational picture.
The future border is a decision system
For customs and border authorities, stronger security and efficient trade cannot be treated as competing ambitions. The objective is to apply scrutiny where it is needed while allowing legitimate cargo to move with as little unnecessary intervention as possible.
That requires high-performance non-intrusive inspection, advanced imaging, AI-assisted analysis, connectivity and experienced people working together. The aim is a clearer operational picture built from multiple sources rather than a single scan.
As trafficking techniques become more adaptive, border inspection must become more informed and adaptable too. Progress will not simply be measured by how many vehicles or containers can be scanned, but by how effectively authorities turn each inspection into actionable intelligence.
The future of vehicle and cargo inspection lies beyond the scan itself: in connecting inspection systems, data and human expertise to create a clearer operational picture and enable faster, more confident decisions without losing sight of legitimate trade.
At International Security Expo at Olympia London on 29–30 September 2026, Smiths Detection will be exploring how these technologies are reshaping vehicle and cargo inspection and supporting the next generation of border security.