Australians are ready for AI-powered emergency response

Australians and New Zealanders want to share their personal data with emergency services and see them use AI and advanced technology to improve the delivery of their vital services, according to an independent research study.

‘The Future of Emergency Call Handling in Australia and New Zealand’, conducted by independent market research firm Researchscape on behalf of Motorola Solutions, consulted more than 2500 residents across Australia and New Zealand in September 2025. It finds clear public sentiment for modernising the emergency call handling services to keep pace with rapid technological advancements, including the widespread adoption of smartphones and applications that offer more ways to contact emergency services.

The research informs emergency services agencies as they seek to close the gap between public expectations and their own capabilities and plan for new and improved emergency call handling and computer-aided dispatch deployments.

“The Triple Zero and 111 hotlines have provided a lifeline for the public in times of crisis for more than 60 years, but the need to modernise emergency call handling technology has never been greater,” said Craig Anderson, Executive Chair of the National Emergency Communications Working Group. “These research findings show that communities expect emergency services to keep pace with rapid technology change, as well as clear generational shifts among younger users to provide more ways to contact emergency services in addition to voice calls.”

Key findings from the report cover the following:

• The data-sharing expectation gap: Although the public is comfortable with sharing their exact location data (86%), personal information about medical conditions/allergies (75%) and wearable health data from smartwatches, rings and other devices (54%) to facilitate better emergency response, they have lower expectations that emergency services are actually capable of receiving and using that data to improve emergency response (by 1%, 20% and 16% respectively).
• Different communication preferences: While phone calls dominate the preferred way to contact emergency services (88%), respondents pointed to SMS (41%), smartphone apps (38%) and video calls (15%) as their top alternatives.
• AI awareness and trust: While 78% of respondents were unaware that AI technology is currently being used or developed for emergency call handling, trust in its use increases significantly with awareness. Those aware of AI usage were almost three times more likely to trust it (56% trust vs 19% trust). Support for AI is particularly strong for detecting critical keywords in emergency calls, such as ‘knife’ or ‘collision’ (58%); ranking emergency calls by urgency (55%); automatically identifying potential safety threats in live video footage (52%); and enabling live translations of callers speaking foreign languages (52%).
• Changing generational needs: Preferred methods for contacting emergency services differ across generations. Older residents prefer traditional voice calls, but smartphone apps are the preferred contact method among millennials, highlighting the need for media-rich data streams to serve the next generation of emergency callers.
   

“In an era where we can track the arrival of rideshare services and use AI to deliver faster insights and improve our decision-making, it’s not surprising that the public wants to see their emergency services make use of these innovations to help keep our communities safer,” said Con Balaskas, Managing Director of Motorola Solutions Australia and New Zealand.

“These findings provide valuable insights to help public safety agencies align their technology modernisation strategies with community needs and expectations, fostering stronger collaboration, better emergency management and a pathway to a safer future.”

Image credit: iStock.com/seb_ra