Huntsville city leaders considering installing Artificial Intelligence cameras on garbage trucks

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (WAFF)—The City of Huntsville is considering adding Artificial Intelligence cameras to garbage trucks to spot property violations and help keep the city clean.

Council members tell WAFF 48 News that they constantly receive messages from residents alerting them to property violations that have gone unnoticed for months.

These AI cameras would help pick up things that go unnoticed. They would be mounted on city garbage trucks, and using an algorithm, they would be able to spot any kind of violation throughout Huntsville as the trucks drive the length of our city.

“We have garbage trucks that go throughout the city, every neighborhood, once a week when they pick up garbage and as a byproduct, conceivably those cameras could be picking up deficiencies, things that need to be dealt with,” said District 4 City Councilman Bill Kling.

Kling said the main concern from residents about installing the cameras is privacy.

“They come home from work, they’ve had a long day, they are watering their plants, and the last thing they want to see is some city truck coming around taking their picture,” Kling said. “They might feel that it’s an invasion of privacy, so that is a very significant issue that we are going to address.”

District 2 City Councilman David Little said he has also heard from residents about the concern for privacy, but it’s something they are going to address before moving forward in the process.

Otherwise, the installation of cameras is something that he’s in full support of, especially because there are property violations that can go unnoticed for months.

“Community development has 6 or 7 inspectors that cover various districts,” Little said. “This will save miles on their trucks because these garbage trucks are going to be on every road every day picking up trash.

“It just kind of brings any issue back to community development a lot quicker.”

Little added that it’s time for Huntsville to start taking advantage of this new technology.

“We better get on the AI train or we will get left behind,” Little said. “I’m learning about AI all the time, usually it’s funny videos on social media but also how it can be used in situations like this are great.”

Both councilmembers tell WAFF 48 News that this is still in the very early stages and the next step is to address privacy concerns and work up an official proposal for the council to vote on.

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