How AI Could Transform Transportation — And Not Just When It Comes to AVs (Renee Autumn Ray)
Oct 17, 2023
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In this episode, Renee Autumn Ray discusses her recent report on understanding AI & transportation. They explore the current applications of AI in transportation, including crash data analysis, parking enforcement, and creating human-centered streets. They also discuss the barriers for governments in utilizing AI and the risks and potential misuse of the technology. The episode concludes by exploring the ethical dilemmas and potential of autonomous vehicles.
AI is being used in transportation beyond autonomous vehicles, including creating visual renderings of streets prioritizing pedestrian safety and assisting people with disabilities in navigating train depots.
Understanding and demystifying AI is crucial for sustainable transportation advocates to ensure responsible deployment of this technology, as it offers benefits such as promoting safer road conditions, providing valuable insights for infrastructure planning, and automating processes that agencies struggled with before.
Deep dives
AI in Transportation Landscape
Artificial intelligence (AI) is increasingly playing a significant role in transportation. It goes beyond just helping automated vehicles navigate obstacles and is being used in various ways. For example, AI is used to create visual renderings of streets prioritizing pedestrian safety. It assists people with disabilities in navigating train depots. AI helps identify speeding drivers for issuing tickets and analyzes car crash data to determine areas needing infrastructure investment. The challenge lies in effectively harnessing AI's potential while machine learning models continue to evolve.
Understanding AI in Transportation
AI is an evolving technology with no fixed definition. It encompasses tasks that humans cannot or would not choose to do due to their complexity or computational demands. In transportation, AI is currently used in autonomous vehicles, but its potential goes beyond that. Government agencies and companies are exploring AI applications such as automating enforcement, analyzing crash data, and making data-driven decisions. Understanding and demystifying AI is crucial for sustainable transportation advocates to ensure responsible deployment of this technology.
Benefits and Diverse Applications of AI
AI offers several benefits for sustainable transportation. Automated enforcement systems powered by AI can promote safer road conditions by minimizing human error. Accessing and analyzing existing data through AI can provide valuable insights for infrastructure planning and interventions. Applications like Hayden AI's bus lane enforcement technology automate processes that agencies struggled with before. Democratizing access to technology and involving diverse perspectives lead to better solutions. However, risks and challenges, such as transparency, privacy, and overreliance on technology, must be thoughtfully addressed for AI to improve transportation effectively.
Artificial intelligence is becoming a bigger and bigger part of the U.S. transportation landscape. Beyond headline-grabbing crashes with driverless cars, though, some advocates may not realize how else this rapidly-emerging technology is shaping their streets right now — and how it might be used in the future. On this episode of The Brake, we sit down with Renee Autumn Ray of Hayden AI to talk about her recent Eno Center report, "Understanding AI & Transportation," which unpacks the concept of machine learning and its many applications for cities, transit agencies, and more. And along the way, we explore some of the pitfalls of over-relying on AI, as well as how transportation leaders can best use it "as a tool to help humans do their jobs" — whether that's analyzing crash data to identify interventions to save lives, spotting and ticketing bus lane blockers, or just helping advocates illustrate what a human-centered street might look like.
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