![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/volvo-bus-nova-cta-copy.jpg\")
\n\t\t\t\tCTA bus; via Volvo Trucks.\t\t\t<\/p>\n
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\n\t\t\t\tCTA bus; via Volvo Trucks.\t\t\t<\/p>\n
In a high-tech move that we can all get behind and isn\u2019t dystopian at all, the City of Barcelona is feeding camera data from its city buses into an advanced AI, but they swear they\u2019re not using the footage to to issue tickets to bad drivers. Yet.<\/p>\n
UPDATE 06DEC2025: the ticket bot cometh to Chicago.<\/p>\n
Last month, the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) contracted with Hayden AI to equip six of its transit buses with AI-powered license plate readers intended to target illegally parked vehicles in an area bound by North Avenue, Roosevelt Road, Lake Michigan and Ashland Avenue.<\/p>\n
As with similar pilots in Barcelona and NYC, the Hayden AI technology captures information from vehicles illegally blocking bus and bike lanes, then submits its \u201cfindings\u201d to a human reviewer for confirmation. If the reviewer agrees with the AI, they can issue a fine of $90 for parking in a bus lane, $250 for bike lane obstruction, $50 for parking in expired meters outside of the central business district, and $140 for personal vehicles parked in commercial loading zones.<\/p>\n
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Despite those hefty fines, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson is quick to point out that the goal of the program isn\u2019t to generate revenue.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery Chicagoan deserves a transportation system that is safe, reliable, and efficient,\u201d said Mayor Johnson, in a statement<\/a>. \u201cBy keeping bus and bike lanes clear of illegally parked vehicles, the Smart Streets pilot helps us protect our most vulnerable road users while improving the daily commute for riders across the city.\u201d<\/p>\n The official release makes no mention of the fact that Hayden AI\u2019s system generated nearly $21 million in revenue for the city in just a few months, despite the fact that thousands of those ticketed weren\u2019t doing anything wrong.<\/p>\n We wrote about some of these issues back in Jun. You can read that original article, below, and let us know what you think of Chicago\u2019s \u201cnon-revenue\u201d claims in the comments.<\/p>\n Barcelona and its Ring Roads Low Emission Zone have earned lots of fans by limiting ICE traffic in the city\u2019s core. The city\u2019s latest idea to promote mass transit is\u00a0the deployment of an artificial intelligence system developed by Hayden AI for automatic enforcement of reserved lanes and stops to improve bus circulation \u2013 but while it seems to be working as intended, it\u2019s raising entirely different questions.<\/p>\n \u201cBus lanes are designed to help deliver reliable, fast, and convenient public transport service. But private vehicles illegally using bus lanes make this impossible,\u201d explains\u00a0Laia Bonet, First Deputy Mayor, Area for Urban Planning, Ecological Transition, Urban Services and Housing at the Ajuntament de Barcelona. \u201cWe are excited to partner with Hayden AI to learn where these problems occur and how they are impacting our public transport service.\u201d<\/p>\n Currently operating as a pilot program on the city\u2019s H12 and D20 bus lines, the system uses cameras installed on the city\u2019s electric buses<\/a> to detect vehicles that commit static violations in the bus lanes and stops (read: stopping or parking where you shouldn\u2019t). The Hayden AI system then analyses that data and provides statistical information on what it captures while the bus is driving along on its daily route.<\/p>\n Hayden AI says that, while it photographs and records video sequences and collects contextual information of the violation, its cameras do not record license plates or people and no penalties are being issued to drivers or owners of the vehicles.<\/p>\n So far so good, right? But it\u2019s what happens once the six mont pilot is over that seems like it should be setting off alarm bells.<\/p>\n Big Brother Bus is watching<\/p>\n The footage is manually reviewed by a Transports Metropolitans de Barcelona (TMB) officer, who reportedly reviewed some 2,500 violations identified by AI in May alone. But, while the system isn\u2019t being used to issue violations during the pilot program, it easily could.<\/p>\n And, in fact, it already has \u2026 and the AI f@#ked up royally.<\/p>\n AI writes thousands of bad tickets<\/p>\n NYC issued hundreds of thousands of tickets; via NBC.<\/p>\n When AI was given the ability to issue citations in New York City earlier this year, it wrote more than 290,000 tickets<\/a> (that\u2019s right: two-hundred and ninety thousand) in just three months, generating nearly $21 million in revenue for the city. The was just one problem: thousands of those drivers weren\u2019t doing anything wrong.<\/p>\n What\u2019s more, the fines generated by the AI powered cameras were supposed to be approved only after being verified by a human, but either that didn\u2019t happen, or it did happen and the human operator in question wasn\u2019t paying attention, or (maybe the worst possibility)\u00a0the violations were mistakes or hallucinations<\/a>, and the human checker couldn\u2019t tell the difference.<\/p>\n In\u00a0OpenAI\u2019s tests\u00a0of its newest o3 and o4-mini reasoning models, the company found the o3 model hallucinated 33% of the time during its PersonQA tests, in which the bot is asked questions about public figures. When asked short fact-based questions in the company\u2019s SimpleQA tests, OpenAI said o3 hallucinated 51% of the time. The o4-mini model fared even worse: It hallucinated 41% of the time during the PersonQA test and 79% of the time in the SimpleQA test, though OpenAI said its worse performance was expected as it is a smaller model designed to be faster. OpenAI\u2019s latest update to ChatGPT,\u00a0GPT-4.5, hallucinates less than its o3 and o4-mini models. The company said when GPT-4.5 was released in February the model has a hallucination rate of 37.1% for its SimpleQA test.<\/p>\n FORBES<\/a><\/p>\n I don\u2019t know about you guys, but if we had a local traffic cop that got it wrong 33% of the time (at best), I\u2019d be surprised if they kept their job for very long. But AI? AI has a multibillion dollar hype train and armies of undereducated believers talking about singularities and building themselves blonde robots with boobs<\/a>. And once the AI starts issuing tickets to the AI that\u2019s driving your robotaxi<\/a>, it can just call its buddy AI the bank to send over your money. No human necessary, at any point, and the economy keeps on humming.<\/p>\n But, like \u2013 I\u2019m sure that\u2019s fine. Embrace the future and all that \u2026 right?<\/p>\n SOURCES: Hayden AI<\/a>, via Chicago Sun Times<\/a>, Forbes, Motorpasi\u00f3n.<\/p>\n If you\u2019re considering going solar, it\u2019s always a good idea to get quotes from a few installers. To make sure you find a trusted, reliable solar installer near you that offers competitive pricing, check out\u00a0EnergySage<\/a>, a free service that makes it easy for you to go solar. It has hundreds of pre-vetted solar installers competing for your business, ensuring you get high-quality solutions and save 20-30% compared to going it alone. Plus, it\u2019s free to use, and you won\u2019t get sales calls until you select an installer and share your phone number with them.\u00a0<\/p>\n Your personalized solar quotes are easy to compare online and you\u2019ll get access to unbiased Energy Advisors to help you every step of the way.\u00a0Get started here<\/a>.<\/p>\n![\"Barcelona](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/ai_tickets.jpg\")
Barcelona ticketing AI; via Hayden AI.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/barca_bus.jpg\")
\u201cYou are being recorded\u201d sign in a bus; via Barcelona City Council.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/DES-1038_Electrek-Banners_EVs_0797c2.png\")
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