An apparatus for applying a convolutional neural network (CNN) to a wide-angle camera image is described herein. The apparatus includes a camera, controller, convolution mechanism and a fully connected layer. The camera is to capture a wide-angle image, and the controller is to map the image on a 3D surface. The convolution mechanism is to perform convolution on the 3D surface and the fully connected layer is to classify a plurality of features generated by the convolution mechanism.