AI-Powered Fleet Technology Helps Deliver Faster, More Responsive Public Services

AI and Telematics Are Changing Road Maintenance

McClain’s agency is among those using Samsara’s connected operations platform to modernize public works operations. One of the company’s newest offerings, Ground Intelligence, uses vehicle-mounted sensors and AI-enabled cameras to automatically detect road defects as government vehicles drive their normal routes.

Instead of relying solely on residents’ complaints or manual inspections, agencies can use live operational data to identify potholes, cracked pavement and other roadway issues across entire service areas.

McClain says the visibility is especially important for smaller agencies working with limited personnel and resources.

“We’re relatively small on employees, so getting the most bang for your buck is super important,” he says.

Kalamazoo County is also using connected fleet technology to improve winter operations. McClain says the county previously relied on a largely manual process to track snowplow activity and route completion.

READ MORE: Local agencies explore video storage solutions.

Now, telematics dashboards allow operators to monitor truck locations, route coverage and material deployment in real time. Drivers can also see where peer crews are operating and self-dispatch more effectively during storms.

McClain says the county has reduced the time required to cover its road network after snow events from roughly 48 hours to between 24 and 36 hours.

The same infrastructure is also improving worker safety and accountability. McClain described a roadwork incident in which a motorist threatened county workers during a traffic-control operation. Dash camera footage captured the encounter and allowed the county to provide evidence directly to law enforcement.

“With our dash cameras, we can turn all of those recordings into the Sheriff’s Department,” McClain says. “They can handle it from there, and ultimately they can catch a lot of these people.”

South Carolina Uses Fleet Data To Improve Efficiency and Safety

South Carolina is applying similar technologies statewide. Thomas Howie, state fleet manager with the South Carolina Department of Administration, oversees approximately 18,000 vehicles across multiple agencies and operational environments.

Historically, Howie says, fleet managers had little visibility into how state-owned vehicles were being used once agencies received them.

“We would push them out into the field, and we might not see those vehicles for four, five, sometimes 10 years,” Howie says. “No eyes on those.”

Now, with telematics devices installed across the fleet, South Carolina has access to operational data such as vehicle location, utilization, fuel consumption and geofencing information.

“Bringing it all together in one dashboard allows us to be much more efficient, which is a benefit to our agencies and the taxpayer,” Howie says.

LEARN MORE: Cities respond to severe weather with fleet management solutions.

The technology has also improved fleet safety oversight.

Howie recalled that South Carolina’s first speeding report using Samsara data revealed that a state-owned Chrysler minivan had repeatedly reached more than 110 miles per hour.

Although agency leaders initially questioned the data, follow-up testing confirmed the telematics readings were accurate.

The experience helped agencies recognize the value of operational visibility and safety analytics, Howie says.

“Since we’re pushing this information out and they’re seeing some of these extremes, they now look for it,” Howie says. “They want it. They’re excited about it.”

Howie adds that safer driving practices can also reduce costs through lower fuel usage, reduced tire wear and fewer crashes.

Samsara Expands AI Tools for Public Sector Operations

The public sector use cases highlighted during the conference reflect a broader push by technology vendors to position AI as an operational tool rather than a purely experimental technology.

Tim Nagy, Samsara’s senior vice president of sales engineering, says the company’s latest offerings are focused on helping agencies reduce manual work and improve situational awareness.

“One of the stories that McClain told was that they often will get a pothole report, whether that’s from an employee or a citizen who phones in,” Nagy says. “They’ll go out and repair that pothole and won’t know that one street over, there is another pothole that they could repair at the same time.”

Nagy says connected operations platforms can help agencies identify inefficiencies that previously remained invisible.

“We believe it’s going to increase the efficiency of road crews by highlighting all of the potholes they can fix,” Nagy says of Kalamazoo County’s deployment.

At the Go Beyond Public Sector conference, Samsara highlighted several new public sector offerings, including Ground Intelligence, Waste Intelligence and Incident Center.

Waste Intelligence uses AI to automatically identify and clip video footage showing residential and commercial waste pickups. Nagy says the capability can significantly reduce the time city employees spend reviewing footage tied to missed pickups or resident complaints.

“Now it’s as easy as typing in the address, and you get instant video,” Nagy says.

The platform also includes overfill detection capabilities and plans for contamination detection that could identify hazardous materials before they create safety risks for sanitation workers.

Nagy says AI is becoming valuable in government operations because it can help agencies analyze large amounts of operational data and quickly surface actionable information.

“People who were spending hours looking at waste collection now can do it in seconds,” Nagy says. “People who were sending their own vehicles to try to find potholes or cracking or sunken manhole covers now have a live map of all the potholes in their city.”

Samsara also introduced Incident Center, which consolidates operational alerts — including crashes, panic button activations and lost assets — into a unified dashboard for government operations centers.

For agencies modernizing infrastructure and field operations, the examples from Kalamazoo County and South Carolina demonstrate how AI and connected operations technologies are increasingly being applied to core government services, helping agencies respond faster, operate more efficiently and improve service delivery for residents.