A growing number of municipalities are turning to artificial intelligence and commercial truck cameras to battle the persistent problem of potholes. Samsara, a San Francisco‑based fleet‑management firm, has launched a service called Ground Intelligence that uses AI to analyze video streams from the millions of trucks equipped with its cameras. The system can identify different types of potholes, assess how quickly they are worsening, and even spot other infrastructure issues such as graffiti, broken guardrails, or low‑hanging power lines.

Unlike pilot projects that rely on a limited fleet of autonomous vehicles, Samsara leverages the extensive presence of its customers’ trucks and vans, which already capture video for driver monitoring and safety compliance. By aggregating this data, the company can provide cities with continuous, repeat observations of the same road segments, allowing officials to track the evolution of road damage over time. The company says it already has contracts with several municipalities and recently added Chicago as a new client.

The Ground Intelligence platform presents the collected information on an interactive map, flagging emerging potholes and other hazards. City workers can also request anonymized video clips to verify citizen reports, turning what was once a reactive, call‑center‑driven process into a proactive maintenance strategy. Officials can plan coordinated repairs, addressing multiple issues in a single sweep rather than dispatching crews piecemeal.

Samsara is expanding the concept beyond road repairs. New offerings include Waste Intelligence, which helps waste‑management firms confirm that trash and recycling are collected, and a ridership‑management tool for public‑transport operators to monitor boarding events and generate digital manifests for school buses. By turning its fleet of equipped vehicles into a moving sensor network, the company aims to provide municipalities with a richer, real‑time view of urban infrastructure health.