Rio Launches AI ‘Supercameras’ to Expand Citywide Surveillance Network

Overview

• Authorities reported 652 AI-enabled cameras already installed, with a target of 3,000 by December 2025 and 15,000 by 2028 for a total of 20,000 city-owned units.
• The IRIS system conducts real-time and retrospective searches by visual descriptors such as clothing and vehicle type, detecting up to 3,000 situations simultaneously.
• Digital gateways and semi-gateways will be placed at city access points and major avenues like Avenida Presidente Vargas to automatically read license plates and track vehicle movement.
• The expansion is structured as a 20-year public-private partnership with the Smart Luz consortium, budgeting about R$180 million per year and tied to public-lighting modernization.
• Officials cite current operations of roughly 6 million plate reads per day and about 160,000 real-time alerts, with facial recognition kept in a restricted testing phase under stated safeguards.