Officials in San Jose, California, this week released results from the second phase of a AI-powered object detection pilot, which uses computer vision to identify street hazards like potholes, illegal dumping and debris. According to the city, the artificial intelligence system flagged nearly 70% of issues before they were reported by residents, helping road crews respond more proactively.
“It does transfer the responsibility of reporting from the residents to the city itself. Because we have city vehicles that drive almost every street, we shouldn’t be so reliant on the community to make these reports,” Stephen Caines, the city’s chief innovation officer, said in an interview. “Once we fully integrate this into the system, I think it would be great to see over time if we actually see a reduction in manual 311 reports.”
The system also detected 50% more street hazards, other than potholes, than residents reported, such as garbage piles, vegetation and mattresses…