Cambridgeshire County Council is to begin using artificial intelligence (AI) to combat its £800m road maintenance backlog.
The local authority will benefit from the introduction of automated highway maintenance inspections enabled by the software, the contract for which cost £100,000 and began earlier in the year.
Inspections are to be supported by AI, which will detect road defects including potholes, while inspection vehicles will be installed with cameras, with officers responsible for checking footage after.
With the council’s number of reported defects per weak reaching an all-time high of 2,892 in February, the rollout of the system has seen a decrease in these figures over the last month, with just 830 being recorded in the week ending March 29.
‘The next stage of the project is to have the technology fully integrated with our works ordering system. This would increase the efficiency of our day-to-day highway maintenance operations’, a council spokesperson told the BBC.
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Photo: © Matt Hoffman.
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