Obvio’s stop sign cameras use AI to root out unsafe drivers

Summary

American streets are incredibly dangerous for pedestrians. A San Carlos, California-based startup called Obvio thinks it can change that by installing cameras at stop signs – a solution the founders also say won’t create a panopticon. That’s a bold claim at a time when other companies like Flock have been criticized for how its license plate-reading cameras have become a crucial tool in an overreaching surveillance state. Obvio founders Ali Rehan and Dhruv Maheshwari believe they can build a big enough business without indulging those worst impulses. They’ve designed the product with surveillance and data-sharing limitations to ensure they can follow through with that claim. They’ve found deep pockets willing to believe them, too. The company has just completed a $22 million Series A funding round led by Bain Capital Ventures. Obvio plans to use those funds to expand beyond the first five cities where it’s currently operating in Maryland. Rehan and Maheshwari met while working at Motive, a company that makes dashboard cameras for the trucking industry. While there, Maheshwari told TechCrunch the pair realized “a lot of other normal passenger vehicles are awful drivers.” The founders said they were stunned the more they looked into road safety. Not only were streets and crosswalks getting more dangerous for pedestrians, but in their eyes, the U.S. was also falling behind on enforcement. VIDEO “Most other countries are actually pretty good at this,” Maheshwari said. “They have speed camera technology. They have a good culture of driving safety. The U.S. is actually one of the worst across all the modern nations.” Maheshwari and Rehan began studying up on road safety by reading books and attending conferences. They found that people in the industry gravitated toward three general solutions: education, engineering, and enforcement. In their eyes, those approaches were often too separated from each other. It’s hard to quantify the impact of educational efforts. Local off...