One of the largest cities in Latin America is working with VSaaS.ai and Lenovo to convert existing video camera systems into smart monitoring devices, helping to make its streets safer for citizens.
Technology is not only shaping the way we live, but also the places that we live in. It’s changing our cities to be more connected, more efficient, and more sustainable. In a word: smarter.
One of the largest cities in Latin America is embracing this change, spearheading multiple Smart City initiatives to improve quality of life for citizens. Public safety is a top priority, and the city—home to millions of people—is working with VSaaS.ai and Lenovo to deploy artificial intelligence (AI) and computer vision on top of existing infrastructure to make its streets safer.
Bringing AI to the edge
The city has deployed hundreds of Lenovo ThinkEdge SE70 and Lenovo ThinkSystem SE350 edge servers and integrated them with existing video camera networks on streets, traffic intersections, and metro stations. Running powerful VSaaS.ai software, these servers transform ordinary cameras into smart monitoring devices capable of analyzing video data in real time.
Francisco Soto, founder & CEO of VSaaS.ai, believes that AI-powered video analytics will enable the city to keep citizens safer and provide better insights on how to improve quality of life.
As Francisco explains: “With Lenovo edge servers, we offer a quick, easy, and affordable way to add sophisticated video analytics capabilities to cameras that are already in place—supporting fast, accurate surveillance at lower cost and effort.”
Access to AI-ready infrastructure and technical expertise via the Lenovo AI Innovators program helped VSaaS.ai to deliver a large-scale deployment across the city, fast.
Protecting public safety
Previously, operators monitored cameras manually. Typically, a person can monitor footage from 16 cameras during an average 4-6 hour shift. AI, on the other hand, can automatically monitor data from 250+ camera feeds simultaneously and detect dangerous or anomalous behavior. For example, people climbing over fences, lying on the ground, or holding up their arms.
This means that agencies can mobilize faster to prevent a threatening situation from escalating or protect people who might be at risk. “By enabling faster response times, our solution has helped the city to reduce the crime rate.”
Going further
The city is actively exploring other potential use cases for the VSaaS.ai and Lenovo solution, including traffic management, automatic license plate detection, and the identification of fare evaders on public transportation——and even helping to reunite lost pets with their owners!
“AI-powered traffic monitoring will enable the city to respond to incidents in real time to regulate traffic, reduce congestion, and improve safety on roads,” says Francisco. “Similarly, computer vision in metro stations will help the public transport authority to make journeys safer and more efficient, and to crack down on fare evasion. VSaaS.ai is becoming the ‘umbrella platform’ to connect any kind of camera available in the city and provide video surveillance apps.”
Initiatives like these are helping the city lead the way in smart city innovation. It is regularly ranked as the smartest city in Latin America, and it has big plans for the future to make the city an even safer, better place to live.
About VSaaS.ai
VSaaS.ai specializes in cloud video analytics and AI-powered video surveillance as a service (VSaaS). The Chile-based startup was founded by professionals with more than 10 years of experience in analytics and Internet of Things technology.
VSaaS.ai has three smart city initiatives: municipality (public safety), subway (fare evasion, security, traffic flow), and traffic light system (traffic violations; vehicle and license plate recognition). Its Smart City Surveillance Platform serves as an overarching solution to address these diverse needs—a foundation for different specialized surveillance applications.
VSaaS.ai solutions are hardware agnostic and can be connected to any camera, allowing users to access device data and control cameras remotely through a cloud-based app. They also offer powerful object detection and pattern recognition capabilities, turning normal cameras into intelligent devices.
To learn more about the collaboration between VSaaS.ai and Lenovo, read the case study here.