- The Government plans to use AI to detect future potholes but drivers aren’t sold
The Government has revealed artificial intelligence will be deployed in a bid to help improve Britain’s persistent and rising pothole problem.
Keir Starmer revealed the UK Government AI Opportunities Action Plan last week which contained ambitious plans to use AI to ‘spot potholes quicker.’
The idea is that AI will find new potholes before they form – but motorists are less than impressed with the Prime Minister’s grand plan, research shows.
An Auto Express survey found 46 per cent of drivers are in favour of the Government’s plans to use AI to detect potholes before they form.
Instead, the majority of motorists want the Government to fix potholes already present on UK roads.
Potholes are an increasing issue in the UK. Last week, the RAC reported pothole-related breakdowns jumped a fifth in the final quarter of 2024, while the AA found total pothole damage to vehicles rose to £579million in 2024, compared to £474million in 2023 – a rise of 22 per cent.
Part of the newly revealed UK Government AI Opportunities Action Plan, the Government plans to use AI to ‘spot potholes quicker’
The Government’s has pledged £7million funding to AI projects across the country in order to ‘turbocharge’ growth by using technology.
One of the key AI examples given – which include using it to help bakeries and farmers – is to utilise artificial intelligence to ‘predict potholes before they form’.
By doing this the Government predicts potholes will be repaired more quickly and cheaply.
Despite the Government’s forward-thinking plan, 26 per cent of drivers told Auto Express they actively oppose the use of AI and just want policyholders to invest more in fixing the potholes we already have.
Surrey County Council is already using dash-mounted AI to spot and photograph potholes in need of repair
The Council says that highway inspectors will no longer have to manually inspect roads, saving time and improving safety
The Government’s AI pothole-detecting plan isn’t the first move to employ AI to help fix the crumbling state of British roads, as some AI tech is already in use across the UK.
A crowd-sourcing app called Stan – which is free to download and use with no sign-up necessary or personal data stored – uses AI video and images recorded on drivers’ windscreen-mounted smartphones to flag up road surface issues.
And last week Surrey County Council announced it is starting to use AI to detect potholes to speed up road repairs.
Highway vehicles in the county will use dashcam computer cameras to spot and photograph potholes which will then be automatically recorded for repair.
Potholes that don’t require immediate attention will be tracked to make sure they are dealt with in the future.
As such highway inspectors will no longer have to manually inspect roads, saving time and improving safety.
Matt Furniss, Cabinet Member for Highways, Transport and Economic Growth, said: ‘Adopting this technology will mean we can proactively log and fix potholes, helping to ensure we have well-maintained roads across the county for our residents.’
How is the Government tackling our pothole problem?
In the Budget, the Government committed to fixing an extra one million potholes per year, alongside pledging £500million towards local road maintenance in 2025 to 2026.
However the amount was slammed as ‘a drop in the ocean’ as current estimates put the nation’s pothole repair bill at a whopping £16billion.
Since then the Government has announced extra funds to fix local roads in England.
Notably the Government has said that 25 per cent of funds would be withheld until local authorities prove they are delivering more proactive maintenance and getting away from the wasteful patchwork approach – or ‘spending the money wisely’ as the Government put it.
The RAC recently reported that the average repair figure is £460 if a car needs fixing after hitting a pothole for anything more serious than a puncture.
This is 43 per cent more than the average cost of pothole compensation claims paid out by councils to drivers in 2023, which was £260 per claim, according to the FOI data.
This is Money has contacted the Department for Transport for comment.