If a mid-1980s dystopian sci-fi action movie mentioned in its opening crawl that in the year 2026, school buses would be equipped with artificial intelligence that automatically tickets drivers who don’t stop when the bus’s stop sign pops out from the side, we would now be praising the coked-out, thrice-divorced screenwriter who came up with it as some kind of visionary. Here we are in 2026, and around 35,000 buses spread across 24 states are doing exactly that.
According to reporting from TechSpot, based on a Bloomberg/Type Investigations report from earlier this year, surveillance company BusPatrol and its competitors like Verra Mobility and AngelTrax are turning America’s classic, wholesome yellow school buses into a mobile automated fleet of traffic cops. The idea is a valiant one, one that hardly anyone would argue against: prevent kids from getting hit by reckless drivers who go when kids are being released at a bus stop. And at zero cost to local taxpayers, no less.
Except the revenue-sharing model looks a whole lot like a private cash grab. In Montgomery County, Maryland, BusPatrol generated $92 million across 375,000 tickets. The county walked away with $18.5 million, while BusPatrol pocketed roughly $40 million. But, hey, at least it works, right?
AI-Powered School Buses Are Issuing Millions in Traffic Tickets. Here’s How It Works.
That’s debatable, since the only data we have on the viability of these systems as a deterrent comes from the companies themselves, who obviously have a vested interest in claiming their products work and keep kids safe. The Type Investigations report found that while bus patrol touted the wonders of its system, county records didn’t reflect a decline in bus stop collisions.
All this brings up an awkward hypocrisy in our modern surveillance era. People collectively lose their minds over Flock cameras in their neighborhoods and its license-plate-reading AI. We don’t want cops tapping into those camera networks. So where is all the fuss over BusPatrol and its ilk?
Is there any meaningful difference between a Flock camera and letting a private corporation turn public school buses into multimillion-dollar automated ticketing machines when it all reaches the same conclusion—living in an automated police state we once claimed to despise? Or are we cool with it, because it’s to “protect the children.”
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