Prince Hlatshwayo, Vodacom Business executive head of AWS Cloud Solutions.
Vodacom Business, Amazon Web Services (AWS) and the National Vehicle Intelligence Cloud (NAVIC) have established a partnership to tap a cloud-based vehicle intelligence platform, Navic.Cloud, to help combat crime and support victims – including help to recover missing persons, stop kidnappings and rescue animals.
NAVIC is a South African company established in 2017 to provide intelligence to security providers within the private security industry.
According to Vodacom, a significant collaboration began in 2023 when Vodacom Business AWS Services consulted and provided professional services to NAVIC, leveraging AWS to scale and secure these platforms. This partnership was designed to enhance public safety by enabling real-time vehicle tracking and alerting capabilities.
According to a statement, the companies will use Navic.Cloud, powered by AWS via Vodacom Business, to “help public and private security organisations to access and act on important vehicle intelligence, with verified alerts processed in seconds”.
Navic.Cloud integrates data from automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) cameras, processes this information and cross-references it with vehicle of interest databases and third-party sources, such as the South African Police Services.
Alerts are verified through the NAVIC Alert Room as well as providing vital human oversight through the NAVIC National Operations Centre, in line with police protocol.
NAVIC currently stores around 7 billion licence plate reads and associated metadata on the AWS cloud, with an average of over 120 million new image reads per month.
This data processing capability is enabled by AWS’s near real-time data processing and AI-driven insights, which are crucial for the timely and effective use of ANPR technology.
The companies claim that by using AWS cloud services, NAVIC can better manage costs while scaling operations, making it possible to handle vast amounts of data without compromising on performance or security.
This scalability ensures that NAVIC can further expand its ANPR camera network and grow the number of users contributing to and utilising the system.
The Vodacom Business partnership with AWS also offers benefits to the NAVIC team, such as local currency billing, extended invoice terms and solutions that meet specific needs.
Prince Hlatshwayo, executive head of AWS Cloud Solutions at Vodacom Business, says: “The collaboration between NAVIC, Vodacom Business and AWS showcases how technology can be harnessed to assist our law enforcers, increase public safety and benefit South African citizens.”
André Snyman, director and head of sales at NAVIC, says: “Our national operations centre works closely with public and private security agencies and is involved in fighting all manner of crimes, from hijacking to human trafficking. The technology has been integral in solving a number of kidnapping cases, and the NAVIC platform was recently used to help the SPCA rescue 21 dogs and several cats that were being mistreated. Working with our neighbourhood watch groups, we even managed to help reunite an elderly man suffering from dementia who went missing.”
