The Mail and Times newspapers have both run in-depth features about the Acusensus camera solution which uses artificial intelligence to identify drivers using their mobile phones at the wheel, and vehicle occupants not using a seatbelt.
Acusensus developed its “Heads Up” Artificial Intelligence technology which uses specially equipped cameras to see through the windscreen and into the vehicle, to identify potential offences.
The Times report talks about how reviews from police forces have been enthusiastic, with Adam Pipe, head of roads policing in Essex, calling the collaboration “phenomenal’. In Manchester, the trial caught more than 3,000 offences in only five weeks. It adds that last month, the first results from a trial in Devon and Cornwall were published showing that in 2023, 83 people per day on average were caught driving without a seatbelt. This year, the number dropped to 14. There were, on average, 50 instances of people texting behind the wheel per day in 2023; that has dropped to ten this year.
The Mail explains how the success marks “a fresh victory for the Daily Mail’s End The Mobile Madness campaign, which has led calls for better detection and tougher penalties.”
The Heads-Up system uses two cameras to take high-speed front-facing and overhead images of vehicles, with AI applied to detect any potential seatbelt or mobile phone offences. The images are then verified by at least two human reviewers to determine whether an offence has taken place; and if one is identified, the driver will either be sent a warning letter or a notice of intended prosecution, depending on the severity. The company has already delivered the technology to 19 police force regions in trials and operational projects across the UK. It is now working on teaching the cameras to spot potential drink- and drug-drivers.
“Our technology makes an impossible task possible,” said Acusensus UK General Manager Geoff Collins. “We are keeping roads safer for everyone by identifying two of the fatal five behaviours. We are demonstrating an approach that can be replicated and is showing real world results. We can do more to reduce needless tragedy by making people think when they are behind the wheel.”
Read the Times article here (paywall) and the Mail’s here.
Meanwhile in Australia, where the Acusensus technology was designed and first implemented, it is now being used in the Australian Capital Territory.
(Picture – Acusensus)
