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.