A startup that aims to save lives with its artificial intelligence-powered drones has just raised $10.5 million in a Series A funding round led by venture capital powerhouse Andreessen Horowitz.

San Diego-based Shield AI said it makes drones that “find people and threats inside buildings without a remote pilot” in a statement on its website. The company adds it works with the Department of Defense, the Department of Homeland Security, and other federal, state and local departments and agencies to build intelligent drones capable of “protecting service members and innocent civilians.”

In plainer language, what Shield AI offers is something akin to a reconnaissance drone, which can buzz around on autopilot, inside buildings and outside, scouting for potential terrorist threats and other miscreants.

According to co-founder Brandon Tseng, once deployed, “Shield AI drones will be the first example of service members using artificial intelligence on the battlefield to gather real-time information that saves lives and will provide immediate protection to U.S. ground forces and innocent civilians caught in conflict.”

Tseng is a former soldier, who co-founded Shield AI back in 2015 alongside his brother Ryan, the company’s chief executive officer, and Andrew Reiter, who serves as the company’s chief technology officer. The new funding round means that Peter Levine, a general partner at Andreesen Horowitz, will now sit on the company’s board. Other investors, including Bloomberg Beta, Homebrew and Founder Collective, also participated in the round.

Shield AI offers a promotional video (below) that shows off its drones’ capabilities. The video shows a few fairly standard looking quadcopters buzzing inside and outside of a small building. The clip also highlights the drones’ AI capability, which allows them to map the building and identify humans inside.

There are a lot of unanswered questions about how useful the technology will be in the field. For one thing, drones are known for being quite noisy, which means their presence inside a building certainly wouldn’t go unrecognized – not exactly ideal if you’re dealing with terrorists. Still, Shield AI offers other potential use cases for its drones, including locating people in the aftermath of disasters such as earthquakes.

Regardless of the drones’ viability in terms of scouting out terrorists, such a sizable funding round once again illustrates how seriously people are taking this technology. The fact that such a well-known venture capital firm as Andreessen Horowitz likes the idea suggests that drones do indeed have a bright future, and will likely become a common sight in our skies and maybe even on the battlefield before too long.

Image: Shield AI