The Postal Service is conducting a limited pilot to assess whether vehicle-mounted cameras can help identify roadway conditions and support community safety. The pilot includes privacy safeguards and requires no additional action from employees. Findings will inform any future decisions.
If everything is as the USPS describes, this could be a significant benefit to map accuracy. The navigation apps I’ve used often display speed limits, road signs, and traffic lights along my route. Many times, this information is wrong. Putting cameras in mail trucks is like sending a simple version of the Google Street View car to nearly every road, every day, for updates. If a road is closed, or a speed limit changes, that will be recorded, and should get updated in our navigation apps.
What isn’t clear is exactly who will have access to this data, or where it will be stored. Presumably, Nextbase will be handling much of that. The Nextbase website shows a variety of smart dash cams for sale to the public. The company has also partnered with several auto manufacturers, including Toyota, Volkswagen, Hyundai, Ford, and Mazda. As much as Flock might want them to be, Nextbase cameras are not automatic license plate readers. Still, the website says:
Nextbase dash cams record in up to 4K Ultra HD, capturing every road sign, license plate, and detail with precision. The sharper the image, the more reliable your evidence will be.
We’ve seen with Flock cameras that it’s not the camera, but the software behind the scenes reading your license plate and more. How will this data be used? In Dallas, cameras mounted on garbage trucks are spotting code violations. They drive regular routes around the city and scan automatically as they go, just like the Postal Service. Keeping maps updated benefits everyone, but how do we know that’s all the new data will be used for?
For now, the program is limited to the Washington, D.C. pilot. Future deployments will depend on how this one goes. Hopefully, we’ll get some answers to these questions before any large-scale use.