SEPTA reveals new ZeroEyes pilot program to detect guns
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Making SEPTA safer. The transportation authority's board approved a new artificial intelligence pilot program Thursday aimed at detecting guns on buses, trains and subway cars.
"This acts as an early warning system for us," SEPTA acting police chief Charles Lawson said.
On Wednesday afternoon, SEPTA's acting police chief announced the approval of a pilot program for cutting-edge weapons detection software that scans existing security cameras looking for objects in the shape of a gun.
"If it's in the shape of a gun," Lawson said, "if it looks like a gun regardless of whether or not it is an actual gun or fake gun, this thing will alert on it."
The technology is called ZeroEyes. It was designed by Navy Seals and it recognizes any make or model of gun the instance it's pulled out of a jacket, waistband or bag.
"If the gun is hidden, if it can't be seen with the naked eye," Lawson said, "this software will not pick up on it. It has to be out and visible for this to pick up on it."
ZeroEyes also uses human auditors to verify the object detected is actually a weapon before alerting police of a threat.
"We get alerted once that confirmation is made and that happens in seconds," Lawson said.
SEPTA is the first transit agency in the country to test this platform.
It comes at a time when safety is top of mind for riders and other solutions like metal detectors aren't feasible in an open, mass transit environment.
"I'll never have enough police officers to put all over the system to watch every area that we need to watch," Lawson said. "Technology is part of this answer. We think this is a big key for us moving forward."
The pilot is expected to launch over the next few weeks. It will run on about 300 cameras for six months at a select number of stations.