Oliver Peterson: Australian correspondent on AI cameras being rolled out to monitor South Australian drivers

Drivers in South Australia will be watched by artificial intelligence cameras aimed at cutting traffic and boosting economic activity.

The South Australian Government believes every 5000 motorists stuck in traffic for 20 minutes costs the state $33,000.

Australian correspondent Oliver Peterson says the AI will use data to reduce congestion and tweak traffic light cycles.

LISTEN ABOVE

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Olli Peterson's six p PERS Live presented with us this afternoon. Hey, Ollie,
get o Ryan. Let's start with the a six bit
of a blood bath. We love that term bit of
a blood bath on the AIX.

Speaker 2 (00:10):
Don't we. Justin markets in our region, just don't go
and look at your super for the probably the next
probably year or so to be blunt, because we were
down six percent at the open here in Australia. More
than eighty five billion dollars has been wiped off the
value of Australian shares in that plunge back to about
four point four percent down today. But obviously this is
going to point to a smaller economy overall, and that's

(00:32):
what the Treasury Department in Australia is saying today as
a result of Donald Trump's tariffs. And this is going
to have a lasting impact here on not just our nation,
but obviously all the countries around the world, isn't it, Ryan?
And we're expecting Treasurer Jim Chalmers says the Reserve Bank
now to cuts interest rates when it next meets. But
he can't be making that declaration yet in the middle

(00:54):
of an election campaign. He's just trying to calm the
farm as everybody is looking out and wondering why this
superannuation doesn't look as good as it did on Friday.

Speaker 1 (01:02):
Yeah, I only got a worry of course if you're
retiring in the next couple of years, isn't it and
then not a problem for me? Oh yeah, no, certainly not. Yeah, Now,
Dustin is the working from home thing. It's quite unpopular here,
like especially if it's bureaucrats doing it. Kwi's love to
bag on that, to hate on that, but over there
is it not the same.

Speaker 2 (01:22):
It is to say. I think this is the most
remarkable backflip and it just shows you how much trouble
Peter Darton is in the election campaign. He has been terrible,
to be perfectly blunt right in the first week and
a half of the election campaign. It seems as though
he's been all prepared, he's been on the back foot,
he's made a few stumbles, and I actually thought that
he had quite a lot of support, particularly as you

(01:44):
say there amongst a lot of Australians who think, well,
the public sector workers are taking the mickey anyway, get
back to work, go to the office. But polling would
reveal and this was over the weekend from Redbridge, which
by the way is a laborer line polling group. But
it did reveal that the Coalition is really struggling to
hold any female votes, particularly in the outer suburbs, and

(02:05):
this is the issue they think that's biting. Although again
it's only about the public sector, as you heard in
the clip you played in the World Wise, it had
nothing to do with private enterprise. It has really backfired
according to the polls, and I think Peter DUT's just
trying to now be as competitive as possible and potentially
pick up a couple of seats at the election. I
know he's still four in a bit weeks away, but
I think a Coalition victory is very unlikely.

Speaker 1 (02:27):
Yeah, you're not the first person who said that to me. Now,
AI cameras are going to solve congestion, apparently, how so.

Speaker 2 (02:34):
Well, I mean they can do everything. You can't know.
They can put world title belts on us in pitches,
and now in South Australia they're rolling out the AI
cameras to assess how just how congested perhaps a road is.
Let's just say you're driving north south and I'm driving
east west and I'm getting a beautiful run and you're
stuck in traffic, bump at a bumper for ten minutes.
The AI cameras will look at the closest intersections and

(02:56):
it will be able to change those directions of those
traffic lights for a moment to clear that backlog. Now,
this is obviously the job that's been done by traffic
controllers for generations. Now it's going to be artificial intelligence
dictating when those traffic signals are going to change. So look,
it sounds fancy in theory, practice, it's probably what's already
existed for a number of years, but AI is involved

(03:18):
in Well, good.

Speaker 1 (03:19):
Luck, Olli, thanks for that. Olli Peter's sex pr Perth
Live presenter. For more from Heather Duplessy Allen Drive, listen
live to news talks it'd be from four pm weekdays,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.