The Australian state of New South Wales (NSW) has announced a new AI (artificial intelligence) technology that will automate and revolutionise road maintenance and repair in the state.
The project, announced on Tuesday, would fund a 2.9-million-Australian-dollar ($1.96-million) trial by AI company Asset AI, which would install sensors on 32 public buses serving greater Sydney.
The sensors use AI to predict the rate of deterioration in the city’s roads by combining visual data with local weather conditions – in theory, it would be able to alert maintenance teams before potholes or other road damages pose a risk to traffic.
“There will always be cracks in the road and there will always be potholes but with smart tech like this we can predict deterioration, streamline maintenance and get to better outcomes much faster,” said NSW Minister for Customer Service and Digital Government, Victor Dominello.
At the moment, road damage and defects are determined based on reports from residents. However, during months of heavy rain, such as those experienced in Sydney, roads frequently deteriorate faster than can be adequately monitored.
Pothole “heatmaps” would be generated across the city, indicating which areas are in the most need of repair.
The Mayor of Canterbury Bankstown, an area in southwest Sydney that underwent a pre-trial of the technology, Khal Asfour, stated that the AI technology has already helped improve road safety in the area.
“We do an audit of our roads once every four years and it is very expensive. This new technology will allow us to do it on a weekly basis instead,” Asfour added.
“Asset AI uses predictive analysis to improve road maintenance by predicting the risk to the community rather than just reporting the condition of the road assets, and that’s great news for our residents.”
Aside from the initial trials in Sydney, the project would like to collect road data along 100 kilometres of rural roads in the state, which are particularly expensive and difficult to maintain.
