AI Intersection Monitoring Could Yield Safer Streets

In the Cities of the United States, an ambitious goal is to gain ground: Zero VisionThe strategy to eliminate all traffic deaths and serious injuries. Implementation for the first time in Sweden in the 1990s, Vision Zero has already reduced deaths on the road by 50% compared to the levels of 2010. Now, technological companies like Stop for children And Obvio.a Try to bring the results observed in Europe in the American streets with cameras systems fueled by AI designed to keep the drivers honest, even when the police are not there.
Local governments turn to cameras fueled by AI to monitor the intersections and catch the drivers who consider stop panels as simple suggestions. The stakes are raised: about half of all cars accidents occur at the intersections, and too much end with the tragedy. By automating the application of the rules against rolling stops, speed and non-compliance, these systems aim to modify the behavior of the driver for good. The carrot is safer roads and lower insurance rates; The stick is quotes for those who break the law.
The origins of the stop for children
Stop for children, based in Great Neck, NY, is a company that leads the charge in residential areas and school zones. The co-founder and CEO Kamran Barelli was led by a personal tragedy: in 2018, his wife and three-year-old son were struck by an inattentive driver while crossing the street. “The impact launched them almost 18 meters in the street, where they landed hard on the sidewalk asphalt,” explains Barelli. The two survived, but the experience left him determined to find a solution.
He and his neighbors pressed the municipality to install radar speed panels. But they turned out to be counterproductive. “Adolescents would run to see who could trigger the greatest number,” says Barelli. “And the additional police only worked until the drivers sent themselves by a text to be careful.”
Thus, Barelli and his brother, long -standing software entrepreneurs have pivoted their technological business to develop an AI compatible camera system that never takes a day off and can see in darkness. Installed at the intersections, the cameras detect vehicles which fail to stop fully; Then the system automatically emits quotes. He uses AI to draw digital “delimitation boxes” around vehicles to follow their behavior without looking at faces or activities inside a car. If a driver stops properly, any sequence is deleted immediately. Videos of violations, on the other hand, are stored safely and linked to DMV records to issue tickets for vehicle owners. The local municipality determines the amount of the fine.
Stop for Kids has already seen promising results. In a technology pilot in 2022 in the city of Long Island, Saddle Rock, NY, compliance with stop panels increased from 3% to 84% within 90 days of the installation of cameras. Today, this figure is 94%, explains Barelli. “The remaining 6% of non-compliance comes massively from visitors to the region who do not know that the cameras are in place.” Since then, the company has installed its cameras systems in municipalities new York And Florida, with a few cities in California.
In a stopping pilot project for children, the cameras installed at the intersections have considerably improved the compliance of the drivers with the stop panels over three months.Stop for children
However, some experts say they will wait to make a judgment on the efficiency of technology. “These results are impressive,” says Daniel Schwarz, a main strategist for privacy and technology at the New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU). “But these marketing claims are rarely saved by independent studies which validate what these AI technologies can really do.”
Confidentiality problems in automated ticket systems
Confidentiality is a great concern for communities that envisage the application of cameras. In the children’s stop system, faces inside vehicles and in the rest of the stage are automatically blurred. Images identification comes only from an AI license plates reader. No personal DMV data is shared, except with the local authorities who manage the quotes. The company has created an online evidence portal which allows vehicle owners to examine the images and challenge the tickets, helping to ensure that the system remains just and transparent.
Surveillance groups are not convinced that this type of technology will not be subject to the mission flu. They say that the equipment initially introduced to help achieve the sympathetic goal of reducing traffic deaths can be updated to do things outside this scope.
“ExPricament The overall objective of such a deployment is as simple as the push of software, “explains Schwarz de Nyclu.” More functionalities could be introduced, additional features that raise more problems of civil freedoms or have other dangers than the previous version has not done. »»
Avio.ai approach
Meanwhile, in San Carlos, California, another startup adopts a similar approach with its own touch. Founded in 2023, Avio.a has designed a solar energy and AI compatible camera system which rises on utility posts and reverbs near intersections. Like Stop for Kids, the Avio system detects rolling stops, illegal turns and failures to give in. But instead of automating the entire configuration, local governments examine potential offenses before any quotation is issued, ensuring that a human is still loop.
The co-founder and president of Avio.ai, Dhruv Maheshwari, said that the company’s cameras operated on solar energy and connect to its cloud server via 5G, which makes them easy to deploy without major construction. The AI processor of Avio, installed on the site with the camera, uses computer vision models to identify cars, bikes and pedestrians in real time. The system permanently diffuses images but only stores clips when a violation is likely. Everything else is automatically deleted in a few hours to protect privacy. And, as with Stop for Kids’ Tech, the cameras do not use facial recognition to identify the drivers – just the vehicle license plate.
Last summer, Avio.a teamed up with the county of Prince George of Maryland for a pilot program through cities like Colmar Manor, Morningso, Bowie and College Park. In a few weeks, arrest signature violations were halved. In Bowie, local leaders have avoided concerns about the deployment of the camera system being a “Ticket for puts to profit” program by sending warning letters instead of fines during the trial period.
Vision Zero is the target
Although the two stop for children and Obvio. Spectrum ieee that around 60 cities of Long Island, near the place where he led his pilot, are interested. “They asked the state’s legislature to provide a clear framework governing what they can do with systems like ours,” explains Barelli. “Right now, it is considered by the State Senate.”
“In the end, we hope that our technology will become obsolete,” explains Maheshwari. “We want the drivers to do the right thing every time. If this means that we do not publish any tickets, it means zero income but a complete success. ”
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