Atlanta's potholes may soon have two new watchdogs. The Atlanta Department of Transportation is exploring a partnership with Waymo and Waze, which announced last week they'll hand over pothole data to cities for free. The move could stack high-resolution sensor data from self-driving cars on top of the city's existing 311 reports.
Waymo Policy Development and Research Manager Arielle Fleisher said the companies figured out a way to track pavement issues by partnering with Waze, which already works with 2,000 cities in the U.S. Waymo vehicles don't have a driver up front, but they collect a continuous stream of ground-level data every time they roll. Emory professor Ramnath Chellappa called the approach "an unintended consequence of technology" that could reshape how cities find and prioritize repairs.
ATLDOT filled roughly 10,000 potholes through 311 last year. Fleisher was careful to position the partnership as additive rather than a replacement. "We are not going to replace your 311. We're not trying to. We want to be additive," she said. Details on how the data pipes into the city's systems haven't been finalized.
