In Barcelona, Spain, a recent trial used computer vision technology on city buses to map places along the route where there were conflicts with vehicles, pedestrians and others, to identify where accident risks were highest. “When you collect that kind of data for an entire year with thousands of buses and thousands of streets, you get somewhere,” said Mr. Santacreu, who wrote a report on A.I. and road safety published by the International Transport Forum. “This approach is not widely embraced, but should be. I would recommend every city to test it.”
Computer vision technology uses A.I. to make sense of raw video feeds — in this case, from bus cameras that record road layouts, positions of pedestrians and vehicles, and speed. The video data is often destroyed after it is processed to protect privacy, Mr. Santacreu said.
In regions where precise and relevant data exists, the report noted, “A.I. can identify dangerous locations proactively, before crashes happen.” In Bellevue, Wash., a recent assessment used advanced A.I. algorithms and video analytics at 40 intersections.
It is important that governments share data widely and make room for data marketplaces, “because they are the best way to procure quality data,” Mr. Santacreu said. “I’m optimistic that, ultimately, if we can take all this data and find a way to employ it, we get closer to Vision Zero.”
The goal of Vision Zero, first introduced in Sweden in the 1990s and now embraced by many cities globally, is to eliminate all road deaths and serious injuries by creating multiple layers of protection, so if one fails, others provide a safety net.
Not everyone is sold on a reliance on computer learning. Mr. Ward, of the Global New Car Assessment Program, said humans still outperform artificial intelligence.
“An observant driver who makes eye contact with a pedestrian can gauge whether or not there’s an intention for that person to cross the street. A.I. is not able to do that, not yet,” he said. “We know that A.I. has a tremendous capacity to improve, but we could be making a big mistake if we think that it can completely eliminate the human dimension in all of this.”
