A free-standing AI road safety camera system deployed in Cornwall caught 300 drivers in the first three days.

How It Works 

The camera system, on the A30 near Launceston, implemented by road safety tech firm Acusensus in partnership with Vision Zero South West, records clear images of passing vehicles (and of the driver) thanks to a series of cameras with high shutter speeds, an infra-red flash and a lensing and filtering system.

AI Reviews And Sorts Images 

The AI aspect of the system is used to quickly review each image (the cameras are monitoring the road continuousiy) and to identify images which could contain evidence of an offence. The (anonymised) images identified as containing offences are then sent to sent for review by a person to confirm whether an offence has actually occurred.

Catching Distracted Drivers 

The system (which has also been trialled recently by Hampshire Constabulary and Thames Valley Police) was deployed in Cornwall as part of the ‘Heads Up’ solution, i.e. using AI cameras to identify distracted drivers and those not wearing a seatbelt. This is because the AI camera’s are able to capture clear images of the driver and what they are doing, such as using a phone while driving.

Two Cameras Focused On Seatbelt & Mobile Phone 

The AI system uses two cameras to specifically capture suspected distraction and seatbelt offences. The first camera is set at a shallow angle to identify mobile phone use to the ear, and to see is the seatbelt is across the body or hanging down behind the driver.

The second camera uses a steep view to capture visibility of mobile phone use low down, and to detect behaviour like texting near the steering wheel or door. The second camera also provides evidence of seatbelt use by being able to check the presence of the lap portion of the belt, and to confirm that the seatbelt is clipped into the buckle.

Using this camera setup, in the first three days of being in operation in Cornwall, the new AI camera system detected 117 mobile phone and 180 seat belt offences.

Can Be Moved 

The fact that the new AI camera system is free standing (mounted on a van) means it can be easily moved and can be deployed at other locations on some of the region’s most used roads.

AI Improving Road Safety 

Geoff Collins, UK General Manager for Acusensus, said: “The ‘Heads Up’ system is a perfect example for how AI technology can be used to improve road safety. Distracted drivers are a significant hazard for everyone, whilst those not wearing a seatbelt are far more likely to be killed in a collision – the Acusensus technology can help to change behaviours, reducing the casualty toll on our roads.”

Adrian Leisk, Head of Road Safety for Devon & Cornwall Police, said: “We are employing this new technology to send a clear message to anyone who continues to use their phone behind the wheel – you will get caught.” 

“Whether it’s by the Acusensus cameras, a passing officer or on video footage submitted through Op Snap, the result will be the same and you will end up with a hefty fine and six penalty points – which could be enough to cost some drivers their license and livelihood.” 

What Does This Mean For Your Business? 

In the UK, it’s been illegal to use a mobile phone while driving since 2003 but many motorists still do it, representing a major distraction risk, and causing many accidents and fatalities. It’s also been a legal requirement to wear a seatbelt while driving since 1983 but it seems that many motorists still fail to do so. Finally, the mobile AI camera system has provided UK police with a means to collect reliable evidence for these offences because the camera system can actually see into the car and has two cameras specifically focused on the seatbelt and the driver’s lap areas – something not possible before with conventional cameras. The AI aspect of the system also means that cameras can run continuously and the image of each car can be quickly processed and sorted, which is another aspect that would not have been possible with conventional camera systems.

The fact that the camera system is free standing and operated from a van is also a major advantage as it can be moved and used quickly on trouble-spots anywhere in the country and so motorists won’t simply be able to learn where cameras are (as they do with fixed speed cameras). This could, therefore, be an example of AI saving lives and making the roads safer by changing driver behaviour. Furthermore, it could provide job and investment opportunities in a growing market for AI based surveillance technology, as it has for companies like Acusensus (i.e. the makers of the cameras).

For those who are worried that AI is ‘taking over’ and being trusted fully with important decisions (e.g. whether a driver gets points on their licence, thereby affecting their livelihood), the Acusensus system used by the Police in Cornwall uses human checks for each image flagged as showing a potential offence, thereby providing a failsafe stage. Judging by the success in Cornwall and in other trials, we may well see more specialised AI camera systems, focused on tackling specific problems, deployed in the near future.

Apple has issued a warning to iPhone users about the dangers of practices like charging a phone under a blanket or pillow at night, risking overheating and posing a fire risk.

Danger From Prolonged Heat Exposure 

In a wide ranging post on the iPhone user-guide section of Apple’s website, the company warns about the dangers of “prolonged heat exposure” in relation to skin contact with an iPhone, its adapter, or wireless charger. For example, Apple says that “sustained contact with warm surfaces for long periods of time may cause discomfort or injury” and ask users to “use common sense to avoid situations where your skin is in contact with a device, its power adapter, or a wireless charger when it’s operating or connected to a power source for long periods of time”. 

Don’t Sleep On Your Phone 

One specific example of a high-risk heat exposure situation given by Apple is “don’t sleep on a device, power adapter, or wireless charger, or place them under a blanket, pillow, or your body, when it’s connected to a power source. Keep your iPhone, the power adapter, and any wireless charger in a well-ventilated area when in use or charging.” 

Also, Apple warns iPhone users to “Avoid prolonged skin contact with the charging cable and connector when the charging cable is connected to a power source because it may cause discomfort or injury,” saying that “Sleeping or sitting on the charging cable or connector should be avoided.” 

What Could Happen? 

There have been many reports over the years of mobile phone-related accidents and incidents caused by overheating. For example, back in 2016, Samsung announced an (informal) recall of its Galaxy Note 7 phones following the discovery of a manufacturing defect in batteries which caused some phones to generate excessive heat and combust. There have also been high profile examples of phone batteries/chargers catching fire on aircraft, e.g. in January when a phone power-bank aboard an aircraft about to fly from Taoyuan International Airport spontaneously ignited. The fire filled the cabin with smoke, caused panic, there were 2 (minor) injuries, plus all 189 passengers and crew had to be to be evacuated.

Apple Examples 

As for Apple devices specifically, there are many anecdotal and isolated incidents on the Internet where Apple iPhones reportedly caught fire due to issues with the battery or charger. A couple of examples which relate to overheating caused by/when covering the phone/charger include:

– In 2017, a woman in Tuscon, Arizona reported that her iPhone 7 Plus exploded due to battery issues. The incident drew attention when she shared images of her burnt phone on social media.

– In 2019, a young girl (an 11-year-old) in California reported that her iPhone 6 caught fire while she was lying on the bed and burned holes through her blanket. It was reported that after the incident, the girl said she didn’t plan to sleep with her phone next to her in future and suggested that the phone may have caught fire after overheating.

– In January this year, a family in Cincinatti posted photos and video captured by security cameras which allegedly showed an old iPhone 4 in their possession catching fire and exploding while charging.

Lithium-Ion Batteries 

Although (as highlighted by Apple’s warning on its website whereby adapters and wireless chargers can be the source of fires) it’s long been known that Lithium-ion (Li-ion) phone batteries can pose a risk of overheating under certain circumstances. For example, known causes of overheating and fire in Li-ion batteries include excessive charging, using high current-drawing apps, exposure to high temperatures, using inferior quality (third party) chargers, old or degraded batteries, physical damage, software bugs, poor battery design or manufacturing, plus even exposure to direct sunlight.

What Does This Mean For Your Business? 

For mobile manufacturers like Apple and others, identifying known risks to users is important for safety and compliance and the announcement and information on their website covers a wide range of potential risk areas.

However, the main point for users to remember in relation to covering phones while they’re charging (e.g. with pillows or bedcovers) or even leaving them on the bed, is that this should be avoided because an iPhone, its power adapter, and any wireless charger need to be used in a well-ventilated area when in use or charging.

There have been many stories circulating of phones overheating and the potential dangers of lithium-ion batteries in certain circumstances are widely known by most people, so it’s more a case of users taking (as Apple suggests) a common-sense approach, if possible, to minimise risks. That said, many people charge their phones overnight, and many have them on or near the bed when they fall asleep and there’s an argument that mobile phone manufacturers need to make batteries and charging safer as well as focusing on matters like the circular economy and the right to repair (and replace their own batteries).

Although other battery designs are being tested (e.g. stacked, graphene, solid state, and more) heat still appears to be the problem and until a battery design that is more efficient, effective, greener, affordable and safer can be introduced at scale, mobile phone users need to take responsibility and be aware of how best to mitigate the risks of overheating, thereby ensuring their own safety and the safety of others around them.

A new VentureBeat survey has revealed that 70 per cent of companies are experimenting with generative AI.

Most Experimenting and Some Implementing 

The (ongoing) survey which was started ahead of the tech news and events company’s recently concluded VB Transform 2023 Conference in San Francisco, gathered the opinions of global executives in data, IT, AI, security, and marketing.

The results revealed that more than half (54.6 per cent) of organisations are experimenting with generative AI, with 18.2 per cent already implementing it into their operations. That said, only a relatively small percentage (18.2 per cent) expect to spend more on the technology in the year ahead.

A Third Not Deploying Gen AI 

One perhaps surprising (for those within tech) statistic from the VentureBeat survey is that quite a substantial proportion of respondents (32 per cent) said they weren’t deploying gen AI for other use cases, or not using it at all yet.

More Than A Quarter In The UK Have Used Gen AI 

The general popularity of generative AI is highlighted by a recent Deloitte survey which showed that more than a quarter of UK adults have used gen AI tools like chatbots, while 4 million people have used it for work.

Popular Among Younger People

Deloitte’s figures also show that more than a quarter (26 per cent) of 16-to-75 year-olds have used a generative AI tool (13 million people) with one in 10 of those respondents using it at least once a day.

Adoption Rate of Gen AI Higher Than Smart Speakers 

The Deloitte survey also highlights how the rate of adoption of generative AI exceeds that of voice-assisted speakers like Amazon’s Alexa. For example, it took five years for voice-assisted speakers to achieve the same adoption levels compared to generative AI’s adoption which really began in earnest last November with ChatGPT’s introduction.

How Are Companies Experimenting With AI? 

Returning to the VentureBeat survey, unsurprisingly, it shows that most companies currently use AI for tasks like chat and messaging (46 per cent) as well as content creation (32 per cent), e.g. ChatGPT.

A Spending Mismatch 

However, the fact is that many companies are experimenting, yet few can envisage spending more on AI tools in the year ahead which therefore reveals a mismatch that could challenge implementation of AI. VentureBeat has suggested that possible reasons for this include constrained company budgets and a lack of budget prioritisation for generative AI.

A Cautious Approach 

It is thought that an apparently cautious approach to generative AI adoption by businesses, highlighted by the VentureBeat survey, may be down to reasons like:

– A shortage of talent and/or resources for generative AI (36.4 per cent).

– Insufficient support from leaders or stakeholders (18.2 per cent).

– Being overwhelmed by too many options and possible uses – not sure how best to deploy the new technology.

– The rapid pace of change in the generative AI meaning that some prefer to wait rather than commit now.

What Does This Mean For Your Business? 

Although revolutionary, generative AI is a new technology to businesses and, as the surveys show, while many people have tried it and businesses are using it, there are some challenges to its wider adoption and implementation. For example, the novelty and an uncertainty about how best to use it (with the breadth of possibilities), an AI skills gap / talent shortage in the market, a lack of budget for it, and its stratospheric growth rate (prompting caution or waiting for new and better versions or tools than can be tailored to their needs) are all to be overcome to bring about wider adoption by businesses.

These challenges may also mean that generative AI vendors in the marketplace at the moment need to make very clear, compelling, targeted usage-cases to the sectors and problem areas for prospective clients in order to convince them to take plunge. The rapid growth of generative AI is continuing with a wide variety of text, image, voice tools being released and with the big tech companies all releasing their own versions (e.g. Microsoft’s Copilot and Google’s Bard) so we’re still very much in the early stages of generative AI’s growth with a great deal of rapid change to come.

A new partnership between Octopus energy and sustainable housebuilder Verto aims to develop new homes across two south-west sites that will have no energy bills because all their energy and heating will come from with solar, battery and heat pumps.

Ground-Breaking ‘Zero Bills’ Proposition

Octopus says the 70 new homes built across two sites in Cornwall and Exeter are part of its “ground-breaking ‘Zero Bills’ proposition to all housing developers, enabling more new homeowners to make energy bills a thing of the past”.

How? 

The ‘Zero Bills’ homes will be made achievable by having them fully kitted out with green energy technology including solar panels, home batteries and heat pumps. At the back end, Octopus’ proprietary technology platform, Kraken, will connect to the clean energy devices and optimise their energy usage to deliver a zero bill.

Octopus says this system will mean the new homes will have no energy bills for at least five years, guaranteed.

600 Other Homes Now Accredited & 1200 Submitted For Assessment 

A previous successful ‘Zero Bills’ pilot with ilke Homes in Essex has meant that Octopus Energy has accredited almost 600 homes (affordable, shared-ownership, private, and rented) through contracts with other developers. Also, 80 more developers have started their accreditation process with Octopus and more than 1200 homes have been submitted for assessment.

Make Energy Bills And Home Emissions A Thing Of The Past 

Michael Cottrell, Zero Bills Homes Director at Octopus Energy, said of the new developments: “We’re on a mission to make ‘Zero Bills’ the new standard for homes. By partnering with developers like Verto, we’re scaling this efficient green technology to homes everywhere while driving down costs for consumers.”  Mr Cottrell also said that, “Together with forward-thinking developers, we can make energy bills and home emissions a thing of the past.” 

UK’s First Zero Bills Development 

Tom Carr, Co-Founder at Verto said of the ‘Zero Bills’ partnership: “We’re thrilled to be partnering with Octopus to launch the UK’s first fully Zero Bills developments. Verto has been delivering its Zero Carbon Smart Home™ product for over a decade: combined with Zero Bills, it represents a sea-change in sustainable housing. But this is just the beginning – we have several other exciting projects in the pipeline with Octopus, and we’re proud to be at the forefront of this movement.” 

Heat Pumps Questions 

Although the Octopus / Verto ‘Zero Bills’ proposition sounds very promising, many questions have been raised about heat pumps in the media recently, particularly for current homeowners thinking of replacing their gas boiler with one. Criticisms have included the prohibitive cost of air and ground source heat pumps, a suggestion that they may be slower at heating a home than a conventional boiler or electric heater, and that some homes and flats may not be compatible with them, i.e. they might not work when fitted. Other criticisms are that they may not cut bills by much and may not be particularly effective in well-insulated homes.

That said, the Octopus Verto ‘Zero Bills’ partnership homes are new builds with the entire system (solar panels, home batteries and heat pumps) already set up, integrated and designed-in using both the expertise of the energy company (Octopus) and the sustainable housebuilder (Vetro) so this should be an effective system.

What Does This Mean For Your Organisation? 

Britain’s homes currently account for 13 per cent of the country’s carbon emissions and the government wants to phase out one of the main culprits, gas boilers, and have them replaced with heat pumps.

With high energy prices and a cost-of-living crisis, the solar industry has grown in the UK with more households fitting them to get the cash savings and green benefits. With this as the backdrop, the ability to build new homes with all the low carbon technology already fitted must help (in this case through a partnership) and the prospect of zero bills homes (a first) for at least five years will no doubt be appealing in itself to new build homebuyers, not to mention the feel-good green benefits. At least with the kit already fitted as part of tailored and tested system it should work well, thereby avoiding some of the pitfalls that trying to retrofit low carbon tech like heat pumps to older homes could uncover.

It’s promising (from a green perspective) that this ‘Zero Bills’ scheme is under way and that many other developers have started their accreditation process, and these schemes may also provide profitable opportunities to the developers and to suppliers of low-carbon tech for homes, thereby helping green industries in the UK to flourish. If all new developments were built with the low-carbon, sustainable tech already installed, it could certainly help cut carbon emissions and bode well for the future but the big challenge for the government is, of course, how to get existing housing into shape in terms of cutting emissions, e.g., replacing boilers with (quite expensive) heat pumps, solar panels, insulation and more.

YouTube’s testing of a scheme to stop ad blocker usage and limit video plays is being seen by many as a way to further monetise the platform.

How Does YouTube Make Its Money? 

Google’s YouTube platform currently makes its money in several ways, with advertising being the main source of revenue. For example, its money comes from:

– Advertising. As mentioned, this is the primary source of YouTube’s revenue. Under this broad term, money is made from different types of ads, such as:

– – Display Ads. These appear to the right of the video and above the video suggestions list.

– – Overlay Ads. These are semi-transparent ads covering approximately 20 per cent of the video content at the bottom.

– – Skippable Video Ads. The adverts that allow viewers to skip ads after 5 seconds. Advertisers are charged only if the viewer watches the ad for at least 30 seconds or until the end.

– – Non-skippable Video Ads. The adverts users must watch the whole of before the video starts, plus they can also appear during, or after the main video.

– – Bumper Ads. The non-skippable video ads of up to 6 seconds that viewers must watch before the video.

– – Sponsored Cards. These ads are supposed to display content that may be relevant to the video, e.g. the products featured in the video.

YouTube Premium. This is the YouTube subscription service whereby subscribers pay a monthly fee to watch ad-free content, gain access to the YouTube Original series, and it also includes a subscription to YouTube Music.

Channel Memberships. Any YouTube content creators with a large enough following can offer their subscribers a membership with monthly payments in exchange for badges, emojis, and other perks.

Super Chats & Super Stickers. During live streams, viewers can pay money to pin their comment at the top of the chat. This gives it more visibility and allows creators to easily acknowledge or respond to them.

The YouTube Merch Shelf. Popular channels can showcase their official merchandise on YouTube itself, i.e. creators can display the merchandise below their videos.

Transaction Revenues. YouTube also makes money by renting or selling movies and TV shows.

What’s Happening With The Current “Experiment”? 

As first highlighted by a Reddit user, YouTube is running an experiment (globally). As a result, users who have an ad blocker on when they view YouTube are shown a pop-up that notifying them that “video player will be blocked after 3 videos”. 

Below this main message is a three-part statement which says:

“It looks like you may be using an ad blocker. Video playback will be blocked unless YouTube is allowlisted or the ad blocker is disabled. 

Ads allow YouTube to stay free for billions of users worldwide. 

You can go ad-free with YouTube Premium, and creators can still get paid from your subscription”. 

There have also been reports (in June) of YouTube restricting ad blockers on mobiles.

This latest experiment follows one appearing during May when YouTube was stopping users with ad blockers on from viewing the platform.

Why? 

As shown by the message, it appears that YouTube may be trying to further monetise its platform by pushing users towards signing up to its YouTube Premium subscription service.

Over the last year or so, YouTube has made several moves aimed at this. For example:

– In October 2022, YouTube ran a short-lived experiment where it asked some free users to upgrade to Premium to watch videos in 4K resolution. The test was reported to have attracted criticism and ended with YouTube saying that all users would be able to access 4K quality resolutions without Premium membership.

– In September 2022, YouTube ran another test aimed at encouraging users to sign up to Premium to avoid adverts by playing 11 unskippable ads before a video began.

– Back in July 2021, some may remember that YouTube tested a feature that allowed users to directly purchase products from YouTube that were featured in the video they were watching. At the time, it was reported that YouTube had been asking creators to tag and track the products used in their videos so that the data could be sent to Google. This may have been used to help improve its analytics, to develop shopping tools for YouTube, and possibly (as was thought at the time) to contribute to a future integration with Shopify (a competitor to Amazon).

YouTube Premium 

This time last year, Google’s announced that its ad-free service (with access to exclusive content and other perks) YouTube Premium had 80 million YouTube Music and Premium subscribers globally (including customers with free trials). As a platform, YouTube is vast and caters to a wide array of content and audiences, and its diversity allows it to be relevant across various domains and demographics. That said, YouTube Premium is in competition with several platforms across various domains. Competitors include:

– Streaming services like Netflix, and Amazon Prime Video (YouTube Premium’s “Originals” content is in direct competition with these), and Disney+.

– Music streaming platforms like Spotify, Apple Music, Tidal, Deezer, and others.

– Ad-free video platforms like Vimeo.

– Short-form content platforms such as TikTok, Instagram (Reels), and Snapchat.

– Live streaming platforms like Twitch, which is primarily gaming content-focused but still competes for user attention in video streaming.

What Does This Mean For Your Business? 

The many experiments in recent times involving matters relating to adverts and ad blockers appear to be aimed at getting more YouTube users to sign up to the YouTube Premium ad-free subscription service, thereby bringing in more revenue from this well-established video sharing and social media platform.

YouTube is already the largest video sharing platform (1.9 billion active logged-in users monthly) and wants to not only stay that way, but to boost its opportunities for revenue, e.g. the experiment to buy goods featured in videos, driving users to Premium sign-ups, possible integration with other platforms (Shopify), and more. YouTube’s relatively diverse services (within video and music) plus its status as a social media platform and general focus of user attention means that it now has many powerful competitors in the streaming and content platform worlds from Netflix to TikTok. This in itself is an incentive to find opportunities to stay ahead and search for new opportunities and leverage the power of the platform and the strength of its parent company. That said, people are used to using YouTube for free, are frustrated by adverts, and tend to respond poorly to feeling like they are being forced or bored (by long adverts) into signing up to yet another subscription, particularly with a cost-of-living crisis.

Another option that YouTube could consider is a paywall, although this may need a bit of thinking-about and could alienate and even lose them many non-paying but still frequent users, not to mention the bad publicity. From all the signs given by the experiments, more pushes to encourage Premium sign-ups are the likely course for now so users should expect more ad blocker / ad-related issues in the near future.