911 Centers Using AI to Handle Call Volume | Staffing Crisis

Aurelian's Shift from Salon Bookings to AI-Powered 911 Support

Max Keenan initially founded Aurelian to streamline appointment scheduling for hair salons while participating in Y Combinator’s summer 2022 program. However, a discussion with a client quickly revealed a more pressing issue that prompted a significant change in the company’s direction.

The Problem of Blocked Access and Lengthy Wait Times

A hair salon client experienced consistent parking lot obstruction due to a school’s carpool line. The salon owner faced a 45-minute hold time when contacting the city’s non-emergency line to report the issue, as Keenan recounted to TechCrunch.

Discovering Overburdened Emergency Services

Keenan’s investigation into municipal non-emergency response systems uncovered a critical problem: these calls are frequently managed by the same personnel responsible for handling genuine 911 emergencies.

Pivoting to AI-Driven Call Triage

As a result, Aurelian transitioned its focus to developing an AI voice assistant designed to alleviate the burden on 911 call centers by managing non-emergency call volume. The company recently announced a $14 million Series A funding round, led by NEA.

How Aurelian's AI Agent Functions

The AI voice agent is engineered to categorize and address non-urgent situations, such as noise disturbances, parking infractions, and reports of lost property. These instances often do not necessitate immediate police intervention or on-site dispatch.

Aurelian’s system is specifically trained to identify genuine emergencies and seamlessly transfer those calls to a human dispatcher. For other situations, it gathers essential details and either generates a report or directly communicates the information to the police department for subsequent action.

Deployment and Current Reach

Since its launch in May 2024, Aurelian’s AI assistant has been implemented in over a dozen 911 dispatch centers. These include locations in Snohomish County, Washington; Chattanooga, Tennessee; and Kalamazoo, Michigan.

Addressing Staffing Shortages in Emergency Services

The adoption of Aurelian is largely driven by the chronic understaffing plaguing emergency call centers. Dispatching is a demanding profession with exceptionally high turnover rates, consistently ranking among the top 10 industries for employee attrition.

Emergency dispatchers are frequently required to work extended hours, with reports indicating 12- to 16-hour shifts in some regions.

Focus on Supporting Telecommunicators

“Our primary focus is on 911 because this industry experiences this challenge most severely,” Keenan explained. “We believe that these telecommunicators deserve the opportunity to take breaks or even simply use the restroom.”

NEA's Perspective on Aurelian's Value Proposition

Mustafa Neemuchwala, a partner at NEA, highlighted that Aurelian doesn’t aim to replace existing personnel, but rather to fill positions that remain vacant due to hiring difficulties.

Competition in the AI Emergency Response Space

Aurelian is not alone in exploring AI solutions for non-emergency calls. Hyper, which secured a $6.3 million seed round, recently emerged from stealth mode. Prepared, founded in 2019, has also recently integrated an AI voice solution for emergency response.

Aurelian's Competitive Advantage

However, Aurelian asserts that its product currently surpasses its competitors. According to Neemuchwala, Aurelian is the only company actively deployed and processing live calls. “To our knowledge, no other company is currently handling real-time calls,” he stated, emphasizing Aurelian’s daily processing of thousands of actual calls.