Nvidia’s Metropolis Paves The Path To AI Cities

On the first day of the four-day GPU Technology Conference (GTC) in San Jose, California, Nvidia announced that it's rolling out a new platform dubbed "Metropolis" that will apply deep learning to video streams for smart city applications such as public safety, traffic management, and resource optimization.

The idea is that because humans are capable of monitoring only a tiny fraction of the captured video from hundreds of millions of video cameras deployed in areas such as government property, public transit, and roadways, AI can be used instead to process the massive amounts of video data almost instantaneously. The company claimed that more than 50 Nvidia AI city partners such as Avigilon, Dahua, Hanwha Techwin, Hikvision, and Milestone are already helping customers using deep learning on Nvidia GPUs.

Deepu Talla, vice president and general manager of the Tegra business at Nvidia, said:

Deep learning is enabling powerful intelligent video analytics that turn anonymized video into real-time valuable insights, enhancing safety and improving lives. The Nvidia Metropolis platform enables customers to put AI behind every video stream to create smarter cities.

According to Nvidia, Metropolis is an amalgamation of multiple products operating on a unified architecture. High-performance deep learning inferencing happens at the edge with the Nvidia Jetson embedded computing platform, and through servers and data centers with Nvidia Tesla GPU accelerators. Data visualization is powered by Nvidia Quadro professional graphics, and the entire platform is supported by Nvidia's SDKs, including DeepStream, JetPack, and TensorRT.

The Nvidia Metropolis platform is currently on display at GTC 2017 through May 11 at the San Jose Convention Center.

  • mavikt
    So, Samaritan is soon comming to a town near you...
    Reply
  • derekullo
    Nothing like the city learning where you go everyday.

    Imagine how targeted advertising could be if the city knew exactly where you were the last 10 years.

    Sounds like the beginning of Minority Report.

    "Our data predicts that you will run the stop light at central and 2nd street tomorrow on your way to pick up roses for your wife's birthday which you have forgotten about 8 times in the last 10 years.

    Please pay a fine of $50 to resolve this issue.

    Thank you for cooperation"


    Also AI isn't magic.

    It's still going to require at hefty amount of cpu/gpu power to monitor your 100s of millions of cameras.
    Reply
  • dankcik09
    nothing good will come of this. just like they said nsa will only exist to track terrorism. yet now its tracking its citizens claiming they are terrorists. makes sense.
    why not focus on curing diseases instead of trying to make humans obsolete. globalist agenda or what?
    Reply
  • chicofehr
    So CTOS/Skynet?
    Reply
  • Questors
    I can't understand why any human beings are so keen to give control of everything in their lives to AIs. From self-driving cars to smart homes and now to entire cities. I resent the way we are tracked already. People give up hard won liberty much too easily and even worse, are becoming so incredibly lazy, they would rather have something do everything for them. I wonder if there will be screams of "ban it" when the AI controlled butt wiper decides to impale its human subject for not being worthy.
    Reply
  • dstarr3
    This kind of technology has been around for a while now, just at a smaller scale. If you go to a shopping mall and think your every move isn't being tracked, you're a bit oblivious.

    But I suspect this data will be used for the same purposes mall tracking data is: Getting better at making you buy shit.
    Reply
  • grimfox
    As of right now it's in government hands. But once the government allows the sale of that tracking data, expect those highway billboards to change just as you drive by. Suddenly it turns into an episode of "Black Mirror."
    Reply
  • derekullo
    19667625 said:
    This kind of technology has been around for a while now, just at a smaller scale. If you go to a shopping mall and think your every move isn't being tracked, you're a bit oblivious.

    But I suspect this data will be used for the same purposes mall tracking data is: Getting better at making you buy shit.

    That's why I wear my tin foil hat and mask when I go to the mall.
    My phone is of course turned off and in a Faraday bag next to my emergency supply kit.
    Reply
  • Fiqar_
    Its Samaritan time!
    Reply
  • Fiqar_
    Another great article! Thanks stevey!
    Reply