Motorola to partner on AI system for public safety

CHICAGO - Motorola Solutions said it will work with artificial intelligence company Neurala to develop intelligent cameras for public safety users.

The goal is to enable police officers to more efficiently search for objects or persons of interest, such as missing children and suspects.

The companies will work together to integrate Neurala's AI capabilities with Motorola Solutions' software and cameras, including its Si500 body-worn camera. The integration will create intelligent cameras that can learn "at the edge" and automatically search for persons or objects of interest - significantly reducing the time and effort required to find a missing child or suspicious object in environments that are often crowded or chaotic.

"We see powerful potential for artificial intelligence to improve safety and efficiency for our customers, which in turn helps create safer communities," said Paul Steinberg, Chief Technology Officer, Motorola Solutions. "But applying AI in a public safety setting presents unique challenges. Neurala's 'edge learning' capabilities will help us explore solutions for a variety of public safety workflows such as finding a missing child or investigating an object of interest, such as a bicycle."

Neurala's "at the edge" learning capabilities help solve some of the biggest challenges that come with real-time applications of AI. Neurala's patent-pending technology provides an alternative to lengthy training for the AI engine, so that, for example, the intelligent camera "learns" to identify the person or object of interest. This feature, known as incremental learning, also reduces the risk of "catastrophic forgetting," which occurs when a neural network forgets its previous training. Incremental learning also enables enhanced accuracy and latency for real-time public safety applications of AI.

Neurala will initially work with Motorola Solutions to build a prototype that allows for real-time learning for a person of interest search. Motorola Solutions Venture Capital, the company's strategic investment group, was a lead investor in Neurala's Series A funding announced in January.