Lockheed Martin launches wildfire tech venture with Salesforce, PG&E and Wells Fargo
A helicopter drops water as the Palisades Fire grows in California last January. Gettyimages.com/DAVID SWANSON / Contributor
By
Nick Wakeman
EmberPoint will combine artificial intelligence, autonomous systems and military-grade sensors to help first responders detect and suppress fires faster.
Lockheed Martin is partnering with Salesforce and two other companies to form a joint venture for bringing next-generation wildfire solutions to first responders.
EmberPoint LLC is also backed by the utility company Pacific Gas and Electric Co. and financial provider Wells Fargo
The venture will bring artificial intelligence, command and control technologies and autonomous systems to help first responders detect fires earlier, prevent their spread, and enhance coordination among responders.
Each partner brings a different set of expertise to the venture, Lockheed said in its Monday announcement.
Lockheed brings its layered approach to prediction and detection, as well as military-grade autonomous response and suppression capabilities. This includes space and ground-based sensors and drones.
PG&E brings wildfire mitigation experience.
Salesforce will be the digital foundation of EmberPoint to integrate disparate data streams into a real-time response engine. EmberPoint will use Agentforce and Slack to help coordination efforts across organizations.
Wells Fargo is helping to fund the organization through a capital investment.
"It's time to change the way we think about wildfires and bring the best of American technology and know-how to this growing threat to lives and property,” Lockheed CEO Jim Taiclet said.
EmberPoint will build out its team and technologies over the coming months with demonstrations to follow later this year.
The venture will target customers in the federal, state, local, insurance and utility sectors.
Below is a CNBC interview aired Sunday featuring Taiclet and Patricia Poppe, PG&E CEO.