TechTheDay

So Nvidia, the tech company mainly known to sell GPUs for computers has revealed their plan to insert artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities into traffic and security cams. Named as Metropolis, it is Nvidia’s “intelligent video analytic platform” which uses “deep learning technology” to analyze video streams. The platform is advertised to aid public safety and traffic management.

Smarter Security

The platform brings together AI technology using deep learning capabilities, cloud-based technologies and security technology used by people every day, specifically cameras used in traffic or for security measures. The idea of Metropolis is to give cameras AI capabilities while connected to a cloud-based system where the video feeds coming from the cameras will be analyzed. Nvidia reasoned that when humans would analyze a video, only a tiny part of the video is being analyzed and any analytic system that currently exists doesn’t really have the capacity or the intelligence to be able to analyze video feed.

Metropolis changes that and the system promises to be able to analyze the video feed as it comes into the system. Data from the system can be used to manage traffic better and ensure “effective public safety activity.” The system uses the Jetson AI embedded computing platform, which involves a supercomputer the size of a credit-card and is used for AI development. Currently Nvidia’s latest in the Jetson line is the Jetson TX2 a successor to the TX1. The TX2 uses Pascal architecture and has an array of quad-core ARM Cortex-A57 processors, plus two Denver 2 CPUs. It has twice the RAM and storage of the TX1, and can encode video up to sixty frames per second. With the ability to process images this effectively, the TX2 is ideal for computer vision features. It also has two modes: one for efficient power and one for maximum performance.

Just recently, Nvidia was reported to have chosen Alibaba and Huawei as partners for Metropolis. Alibaba, for those who don’t know, is a Chinese e-commerce company. They provide sales services through the web, electronic payment services, cloud computing services and a shopping search engine. It’s kind of like a Chinese version of Amazon or eBay. They’re the world’s biggest Internet retailer that primarily operates inside the People’s Republic of China.  The company also provides tech-related services to the Chinese government.

AI Machines Watching

As mentioned, Nvidia has chosen two Chinese companies to partner with for the development of Metropolis, in which a system will be placed to monitor people via security cameras and the Internet. China’s surveillance system, named Skynet, was started in 2005.

With Skynet, cameras were installed in public spaces and transportation. The system, on completion, will improve the massive surveillance system by giving that system AI and deep learning capabilities.

Other Things

Ant Financial, which is related to Alibaba, has launched a service where users can pay for their food by just having their faces scanned. Your information is stored in the system where a machine matches your face with the ID. If it does match then you’ll need to enter your phone number for the transaction to fall through. A system such as this can also benefit from Metropolis.