- Author
- Bekki Leaver
- Role
- Head of Product
SocietyWorks’ Head of Product, Bekki Leaver, provides some frank food for thought on the topic of using AI to fix potholes.
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There’s a lot of buzz about AI and how it’s going to fix the UK’s pothole issues by using clever software and cameras, even drones, to help authorities identify them automatically.
It all sounds very impressive, and as someone working in tech and digital transformation, I am truly excited about the potential of new technologies. Using tech to make services more efficient and proactive sounds brilliant.
But here’s the thing: I do not believe pothole identification is the problem.
To improve anything, you have to start with the problem.
While, naturally, authorities can’t be everywhere at once, generally speaking they already know where the potholes are. Residents report them, sometimes with creative photoshoots to show how big the pothole is (banana for scale anyone?). Inspectors are out there checking roads. Platforms like FixMyStreet help map and visualise reports in real time. We have no shortage of pothole identification.
What we do have a shortage of is capacity to do anything about them. Enough people, time and funding to fix the things once they’re found.
Seeing more < doing more
Imagine going to the hospital with a broken leg. You know it’s broken, the physician knows it’s broken, everyone knows! But instead of treatment a consultant wheels out an expensive new machine that scans it in 4K from multiple angles and tells you exactly how broken it is, only for there to be no staff to actually put it in a cast. That’s not helpful! That’s just frustrating. And this is where we’re heading with “better identification tech”. We’ve got more awareness, but no resources to act, in a system already stretched to its limits.
Let’s be clear though, this isn’t about authorities responsible for fixing potholes not doing enough. Working in partnership with highways teams at authorities across the UK, we see them pulling off small miracles on a daily basis, trying to keep services running in the face of ever increasing demand and diminishing budgets. Where AI tools can help prioritise workloads, assist in predicting seasonal pressures, or just reduce the mountain of paperwork, I am all for it.
Digital transformations don’t start with shiny new tech, sensors or algorithms. They start with people. Unless the system has the resources and flexibility to use what technology finds, all we’re doing is giving exhausted teams more things to feel behind on.
If AI could help us fight the causes of potholes, then great – I’m all for it. In the meantime, surely the focus should be on tech helping frontline services do more with what resources they have, rather than see more?
After all, if you hit a pothole this week, you won’t care if it’s been beautifully scanned, categorised, and added to a dashboard somewhere; you’ll just want an easy way to see if it’s been reported already and for it to be fixed.
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Read more posts from the SocietyWorks team.
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Image taken by a member of the mySociety/SocietyWorks team and used with permission.