Virtual Border Wall Technology Under Advanced Development

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An advanced new virtual border wall technology is currently being tested on the border between the United States and Mexico. The technology comprises of sensor towers carrying cameras and sensor lasers powered by an artificial intelligence algorithm. The virtual wall technology called Lattice can spot any person or animal moving around near the border within a two-mile radius.

The technology was developed by a startup called Anduril, founded by Palmer Luckey, who had sold virtual reality company Oculus to Facebook. The company hopes the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) will purchase the technology to create a virtual border wall, which would be far cheaper for the government than building the physical barricade President Trump has promised, according to futurism.com.

The system employs high-tech, low-cost off-the-shelf devices and sensors networked together and feed into an AI system that sifts through the data to detect a human presence. The system highlights it in a green box and sends push alerts designed to notify Customs and Border Protection agents in real time, reports techcrunch.com.

During its tests, Lattice has led to the arrests of 55 people crossing the border into Texas, and another 10 in San Diego, according to wired.com.

The surveillance system would give the federal government the ability to monitor everyone who is on or around the border, whether or not they’re doing anything illegal. But these tools could easily extend beyond border security.

Luckey told wired.com that, right now, Anduril is focused on intelligence and surveillance, but isn’t ruling out developing weapons for the military down the road, even though the company doesn’t know what those weapons might look like.