San Jose, California, has reported positive results from its recent artificial intelligence-powered street and transit pilot projects. The city released findings from the second phase of an object detection pilot that uses computer vision to identify street hazards such as potholes, illegal dumping, and debris.
The initiative is significant because it allows the city to address issues proactively rather than relying on residents to report them. According to Stephen Caines, San Jose’s chief innovation officer, “It does transfer the responsibility of reporting from the residents to the city itself. Because we have city vehicles that drive almost every street, we shouldn’t be so reliant on the community to make these reports (…) Once we fully integrate this into the system, I think it would be great to see over time if we actually see a reduction in manual 311 reports.” According to StateScoop, the artificial intelligence system flagged nearly 70% of issues before they were reported by residents and detected 50% more non-pothole hazards than those reported by residents.
Caines said, “It really enables us to identify issues before they become worse.” The project is supported by a grant from the Toyota Mobility Foundation and demonstrates how local governments can fund improvement projects through multiple grants. “What makes this story unique is that we did this by combining five different grants, and 90% of the funding came from the state or federal government (…) These were affordable investments that were modular, scalable and able to be rapidly deployed,” Caines said.
Alongside these efforts, San Jose has rolled out AI-powered transit signal prioritization across all bus routes in partnership with LYT and Valley Transportation Authority. This technology analyzes real-time traffic conditions to give buses more green lights, increasing bus speeds by 20%. Mayor Matt Mahan said in a press release, “If you want to know how well a city’s government is working, look at the basics — how buses run, how parks are taken care of, how fast potholes are filled.”
The city first tested this technology in 2023 on two routes where it reduced red-light wait times by 50% and helped buses stay on schedule. Since 2018, similar systems have been used for emergency vehicles like fire trucks and ambulances.
Caines also mentioned hopes for expanding traffic-signal prioritization pilots for school buses but noted that such decisions extend beyond city authority. The projects reflect San Jose’s broader strategy of using AI for improved services and operations—including staff training programs and automated housing permitting launched last year.
