Pittsburgh using cameras and AI to send parking tickets to scofflaws
If you're one of those people who think you can get away with not paying for a parking space, cameras are watching, and the city of Pittsburgh plans to add more.
The cameras can pick up license plates, register them, decide whether the cars are supposed to be there and then send a ticket by mail.
The AI parking enforcer spots your car and your license plate. If you didn't pay for your spot, you're busted. The company Automotus already powers the city's smart loading zone pilot program.
"It makes us more efficient and more accurate so we'll start to implement that throughout the city as we go because we enforce street meters, RPP districts, street cleaning, the peds. We have a lot of enforcement. It makes our operation much more efficient with less manpower," said David Onorato, the executive director of the Pittsburgh Parking Authority.
Next month, it's street cleaning season. Cameras will now be attached to enforcement cars following street cleaners around Pittsburgh, scanning the plates of cars not moved for street cleaning.
"The camera will be on the enforcement vehicle, and as they pass the car, it will record the plate, and the ticket will be issued in the mail in the following week," Onorato said.
Another add-on to the program: city parking lots, soon to have the same cameras, making sure you're paying for lot parking as well.
"Just last month alone, we issued 2,800 tickets in the mail," Onorato said.
Pittsburgh was one of the first cities in the country to place its high-tech parking meters, and now it's one of the first in the country to use these camera-watching ticket-issuers. It's gone so well, Pittsburgh says it's gotten calls from other cities in the U.S. asking about its successes and wanting to do the same thing.
What do you do if you receive one of these tickets in the mail and you think you shouldn't have to pay? It's really no different than if a parking enforcement officer placed it there. You can try to appeal it.
