Austin, TX

Austin company using AI to track homeless encampments in city

Published

2 years ago

February 24, 2024

Press Room

Austin company using AI to track homeless encampments in city

Austin company using AI to track encampments

Austin company Nomadik is tracking homeless encampments in the city with the help of artificial intelligence.

AUSTIN, Texas – An Austin company is using artificial intelligence to track homeless camps in the city.

“It gets around the need for human analysts to sift through the data that allows for human error,” Nomadik AI owner Morgan Winters said.

AI is currently being used for manufacturing, education, and transportation. The owners of the Austin company said, why not use it for a local issue, like homelessness?

“There’s only two of us, and it would be very hard to do this with two people,” Nomadik AI owner Trevor Sorrells said.

Homeless crisis in Austin continues

The number of permanent supportive housing units in Austin is projected to increase by over 600% by 2026, according to city data shared at Tuesday’s city council work session.

With the help of AI, they’re tracking homeless encampments in Austin.

“A lot of these nonprofits in the city and stuff like that don’t have really accurate data to both try to solve the problem and then try to accurately manage how well they’re solving the problem,” Sorrells said.

Winters and Sorrells have created the Nomadik app where people like Jamie Hammonds, the owner of DASH, can provide information.

“I will go to each camp, I will photograph it, do a quick little inventory and hit submit,” Hammonds said.

Then AI does the rest of the work.

“We’re taking in all of the inputs and then using our ML models in the background to parse through all of that,” Sorrells said.

Austin, TX

Southwest Airlines to open a new Crew Base in Austin, Texas

Published

9 hours ago

December 15, 2025

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Southwest Airlines to open a new Crew Base in Austin, Texas

Southwest Airlines announced today that a new Crew Base for Pilots and Flight Attendants will open in March 2026 in Austin, Texas, creating more than 2,000 new jobs based at Austin Bergstrom International Airport (AUS) and positioning the airline for continued growth in Central Texas.

Most Employees at the new Base will be Captains, First Officers, and Flight Attendants, supported by new Base Leadership and supporting staff. Southwest is also planning to add a recurring training facility for Flight Attendants as part of its ongoing business transformation.

Bob Jordan, President, Chief Executive Officer, and Vice Chairman of the Board, said: “This investment demonstrates our commitment to Austin and to our Customers.

“As the largest carrier at Austin Bergstrom International Airport, we appreciate the vision of Governor Abbott and Mayor Watson in clearing the way for Austin to become an even bigger part of our future.”

Southwest is Austin’s largest air carrier with more than 130 peak-day departures that served approximately 6.7 million Customers in 20241.

Next March, new service begins to popular leisure destinations, including Fort Myers, Fla., Palm Springs, Calif., and Steamboat Springs (Hayden), Colo., bringing the total of nonstop destinations from Austin to 53.

Southwest also will begin daily service between Austin and Cincinnati, Ohio, next June, and has increased seasonal service in markets such as Pensacola, Fla.

Southwest expects to open the new base in early March, starting with approximately 335 Pilots and 650 Flight Attendants. By mid-2027, the base will reach its expected size of 2,000 total Employees.

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Austin, TX

Austin opens cold weather shelters ahead of freezing temps

Published

21 hours ago

December 14, 2025

Press Room

Austin opens cold weather shelters ahead of freezing temps

As the Austin area prepares to plunge into freezing temperatures Sunday night, the city is initiating its Cold Weather Shelters protocol.

Those wanting to use the emergency shelters, which open when overnight temperatures reach 35 degrees or lower, must register between 6-8 p.m. at One Texas Center (OTC) on Barton Springs Road, according to a release from the city. Those interested and in need of transport can reach the OTC via bus lines 1, 7, 10, 20, 30, 105 and 801. Anyone who can’t pay bus fare but needs shelter will still be allowed to ride, a Facebook post from the city said.

Following registration, CapMetro shuttles will take guests from the OTC to a cold weather shelter. The addresses for these shelters are kept confidential due to “safety, privacy and capacity concerns,” according to the Austin American-Statesman.

The Statesman also reported that shelters provide meals and allow leashed, friendly pets.

All parks and libraries are meanwhile serving as warming centers during regular operating hours, except for Austin Public Library’s Old Quarry Branch and Willie Mae Kirk Branch.

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