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MTA's A.I. bus cameras issue mistaken parking violations

In all, the MTA said A.I. cameras on the M79 and Bx35 routes mistakenly ticketed about 3,800 vehicles for blocking bus lanes. More than 870 of the faulty infractions were for cars, trucks, and SUVs that were parked in perfectly legal spots.

According to the MTA, the smart cameras had not been programed to know they shouldn’t issue violations to vehicles parked in the legal alternate side zones that periodically interrupt the M79 lane. The cameras also failed to realize that both the M79 and Bx35 bus routes were still in the “warning” phase of a new enforcement pattern – which means even legitimate infractions should not have resulted in monetary penalties. “Certainly when we’re thinking about the role of artificial intelligence in our society and the roll out of these programs it really has to be done in an intentional way that utilizes some level of common sense before you turn these systems on,” Han said.

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