Starting September third, Greater Manchester within the UK will change into the most recent region to deploy AI cameras to robotically detect drivers using mobile phones or not wearing seatbelts.
The “Heads Up” cameras, developed by Australian company Acusensus, use machine learning algorithms to investigate images of passing vehicles.
The goal is to discover driving offenses at a scale and precision impossible without AI automation.
Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) is confident the project will help reduce dangerous driving practices that contribute to crashes.
“In Greater Manchester, we all know that distractions and never wearing seatbelts are key aspects in numerous road traffic collisions which have resulted in people being killed or seriously injured,” said Peter Boulton, TfGM’s network director for highways.
Boulton continued, “By utilising this state-of-the-art technology provided by Acusensus, we hope to realize a greater understanding of what number of drivers break the law in this manner, whilst also helping to scale back these dangerous driving practices and make our roads safer for everybody.”
The trial is a component of a wider partnership between Acusensus and the UK government’s National Highways agency.
In addition to Greater Manchester, the AI cameras will likely be deployed in nine other regions: Durham, Humberside, Staffordshire, West Mercia, Northamptonshire, Wiltshire, Norfolk, Thames Valley, and Sussex.
Rolling out more AI cameras won’t just help police catch and punish problem drivers – it is also a money cow for the federal government. More tickets means extra money in public coffers.
How the cameras work
The Acusensus system captures two images of every passing vehicle: a shallow-angle shot to ascertain for seatbelt compliance and phone use and a wider angle to detect other dangerous behaviors, like texting.
The AI software then analyzes the pictures to discover potential offenses flagged for human review before any penalties are issued.
The driver receives a warning or tremendous if the human check confirms an offense. If no offense is found, Acusensus says the image is instantly deleted.
Past pilots proved how effective these camera systems are. Last yr, in Devon and Cornwall, an AI camera system revealed 117 instances of cell phone usage and 180 seat belt violations in only 72 hours.
While the goals of reducing distracted driving and increasing seatbelt use are commendable, the UK’s broadening adoption of AI surveillance technology is generating a privacy backlash.
Privacy groups are concerned about potential misidentification, bias, and misuse of the collected data. The risks aren’t merely academic; they’ve already been exposed by past AI policing failures.
In the US particularly, there are several examples of people being wrongly accused by automated policing systems, sometimes even leading to temporary jail time.
Not way back, UK train stations deployed AI cameras able to detecting crimes, gender, and even emotions.
“The rollout and normalisation of AI surveillance in these public spaces, without much consultation and conversation, is sort of a concerning step,” said Jake Hurfurt, head of research at UK civil liberties group Big Brother Watch in response to that project.
UK police have also ramped up using facial recognition to scan crowds for wanted individuals, resulting in quite a few arrests last yr.
Recent riots and unrest across the country have reinforced using such technologies in periods of public disorder.
The worry is, will it end there? Or will emotion-detecting surveillance change into part of recent life?
Big Brother Watch argues that live facial recognition is spiraling uncontrolled already.
⚠️Met Police has increased live facial recognition snooping on the general public by 1,000% & it’s still expanding
Meanwhile, shops are scanning the faces of shoppers by putting these cameras on doorways
We must put an urgent stop to this intrusive technology
➡️https://t.co/KIFHRGsqVL pic.twitter.com/Gv29Pl7BdF
As AI-powered surveillance becomes a brand new norm, striking the proper balance between public safety advantages and risks to privacy and civil liberties will likely be exceptionally tough.
It’s hardly comfortable to have AI cameras peer into people’s lives. But neither is sharing the road with people playing on their phones behind the wheel.
If the AI system can demonstrably save lives, which may sway skeptics. However, authorities might want to prove the technology’s effectiveness and ensure rock-solid data protection measures are in place.
Of course, the general public must also know exactly how their data is collected, used, and safeguarded.
The trouble is, as these systems change into more common, additionally they change into tougher to manage. And poor oversight can result in some pretty dire consequences.
