Transport for NSW (TfNSW) is looking to contract camera technology suppliers and installers to collect road defect data for its Asset AI program.

An open tender has called for a panel of suppliers from across NSW to “provide and install camera technology onto fleet [or council] vehicles” such as garbage trucks, buses and street sweepers to “capture road asset defect data [that will] feed into [the] existing Asset AI software platform”.

The $2.9 million Asset AI tool, originally piloted by two NSW councils, Canterbury-Bankstown Council as the metropolitan representative and Griffith City Council as the regional representative, in July 2023, aims to identify and detect road defects as early as possible utilising vehicles that already consistently traverse council roads, enabling councils to better maintain roads and improve the safety of road users.

The program, funded by the NSW Government Smart Places Acceleration Program, leverages artificial intelligence (AI) technology to identify road defects such as potential potholes and cracks, street litter, faded line marking or damaged signs and log this information on the Asset AI platform.

The platform then analyses the defects and recommends a response time to the respective council, through which maintenance work can then be scheduled to limit the risk to road users.

The Australian-first initiative will roll-out to additional councils this year, with expressions of interest currently open.

The tender will also remain open until 1 July.