Tuesday 11 July 2023: The NRMA has today welcomed the announcement from the NSW Government of the introduction of artificial intelligence to monitor road conditions and improve local road maintenance.
The NSW Government has announced that street sweeping vehicles in south-western Sydney and regional NSW have begun using dashboard mounted cameras linked to a machine-learning program to assist councils to better maintain local roads.
The artificial intelligence software will allow councils to better plan for future road maintenance programs by using real-time data rather than traditional and disparate road audits. Over time, the technology could advance to identify important road issues like cracks and rutting before they lead to potholes.
NRMA Director of Policy & Public Affairs, Robert Giltinan, welcomed the announcement by the NSW Government and noted a well-maintained road network is critical for supporting the safe movement of people and goods across the state.
“Local roads require more attention than ever before following years of extreme weather events that have caused extensive road damage,” Mr Giltinan said.
“The road network is one of the state’s most important assets. To ensure sustainable maintenance in the face of budget constraints, we need to be smarter when it comes to the allocation of funding.
“Importantly, we need to move to evidence-based, predictive maintenance by leveraging technology. Historical road maintenance schedules are just not sufficient in the current environment.
“The NRMA has worked hard on improving road conditions with community, industry and government, and has been spearheading calls for technology-based road audits and targeted maintenance. This announcement by the NSW Government is definitely a step in the right direction and part of the long term solution.”
In March this year, the NRMA released figures which showed that the council road maintenance backlog had blown out to over $2.3 billion due to the impact of flooding on local roads.
