*LAS VEGAS: The same technology used in self-driving cars is being toutedas a potential high tech solution to the US border wall conundrum — withsome added benefits.*
At least one startup at the Consumer Electronics show is showcasing howLidar, a laser-based detection system widely used in autonomous vehicles,could be deployed along the US-Mexico border at a far lower cost than aphysical wall or fence, and with fewer environmental impacts.
Quanergy Systems, among a handful of tech firms working on Lidarborder security, is showing to CES attendees its technology being deployedin pilot projects on the India-Pakistan frontier as well as a small sectionof the southern US border.
“We offer a solution that is more capable than a physical wall,” saidLouay Eldada, chief executive and co-founder of the Silicon Valley startup.
“It can see day and night in any weather and can automatically trackintruders, and give the GPS coordinates in real time to patrol officers.”
Eldada said such a system would cost “about two to three percent” of theprice of a physical barrier for the entire US-Mexico border.
An electronic solution offers additional benefits, according to Quanergy,including for the environment and in operating costs.
“A barrier is an eyesore and it intrudes on the environment, it impedesthe flow of wildlife” Eldada told AFP.
Read Top Stories
And without a wall in place, “you don’t have to have patrol officersdriving back and forth, so you need fewer people” to monitor the border.
A decade ago, the US government canceled plans for an electronic fence,amid concerns it would be ineffective.
But Eldada said that technology has vastly improved in recent years,notably with the development of Lidar — light detection and rangingtechnology — paired with artificial intelligence.
“With the long range of Lidar, you detect things before they get to theperimeter, and the AI software is so much more advanced,” he said.
“We can get very high resolution images, and look at someone’s behavior.You can see every articulation. This allows you to see how each person ismoving and have a good idea of whether it’s a patrol officer or someoneabout to cross illegally.” – APP/AFP
