Robotic Nation Evidence

In a Road That's All Eyes, the Driver Finds an Ally

From the article:

To that end, Astucia has developed a system that is operating on a highway in Scotland. It employs three embedded cameras to give front, rear and side views of passing vehicles. Other embedded sensors project two infrared beams over the road that are used to time traffic and determine its speed. The images and the speed data travel under the road by cable to a computer. It in turn relays the data by satellite to Astucia's offices.

The system is currently being used to monitor traffic slowdowns. When it detects them, it turns on illuminated markers farther up the road as a warning. Mr. Dicks said that its speed measurements were accurate within 0.5 percent, well within the tolerances demanded for traffic enforcement.

Similarly, he said, the systems can be combined with optical character recognition software to automatically track stolen vehicles or cars believed to be used by suspected criminals or terrorists.

The United States branch of Astucia began demonstrating the camera system - which costs about $50,000 for a package of three cameras, sensors and supporting electronics - to police and highway officials less than a month ago. John Kerridge, the subsidiary's president, reported considerable interest in the system for both traffic and broader law enforcement. But he added that public resistance could be one obstacle to its adoption.

"We all break the law regarding speeding," Mr. Kerridge said. "The system may leave a bad taste in motorists' mouths at the beginning. But when their insurance starts going down and stolen vehicles start getting recovered, the benefits will overcome that."

What this article points out is that robotic surveillance will be able to take many different forms in the near future. It will be far less expensive, and far less obvious, to drill small holes in the pavement to install in-road cameras at every intersection.