The three-year contract with Vialytics will see Cass County pay $750 for startup and roughly $47,000 annually in exchange for the ability to use artificial intelligence that assesses roads.
Essentially, iPhones will be mounted to three Highway Department vehicles. The phones will then take photos every 10 seconds and artificial intelligence will identify things like potholes and severe cracking in the roads.
Highway Superintendent Jeff Smith said that while the contract’s cost was “notable” it could pay for itself “in short order” by helping the department preserve roads with cheaper processes — such as chip seals that cost $13,000 per mile instead of a hot mix asphalt wedge and surface that costs $200,000 per mile —by catching deterioration early.
Previously, Smith explained, the department rated all the county roads visually by driving each road, stopping after each segment and entering information into a computer.
“It’s very time consuming, and can be subjective based on the set of eyes doing the rating,” Smith wrote in an email to the Pharos-Tribune. “And of course there are safety concerns when stopping along roadways, particularly busy ones.”
There are a few other benefits to the software, Smith said. It will keep photographic records of all the road segments, which helps the department document local roads, and it can fill out work orders for the department’s employees.
Smith also anticipated the new technology will allow the department to collect data quicker. Before the contract, he explained, data collection could take weeks or months. But since drivers are able to travel up to 40 miles per hour using the Vialytics software, without stopping, the data collection could now get wrapped up in a couple of weeks.
According to a press release from Vialytics, the technology is used by at least 300 municipalities in seven countries. A representative from the company also noted its used by more than a dozen counties across Indiana, including White and Tipton counties.
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