Sacramento Airport Taps AI-Powered Curb-Monitoring Tech

Anyone who has ever waited for a traveler outside of an airport terminal knows the risks that come with lingering too long. If you’re lucky, you’re asked to move along, and if you're not, you get a ticket.

Up until recently, Sacramento International Airport (SMF) was relying on the traditional way of enforcing the curbside rules — a ticket book and personal judgment — at a terminal that sees more than a million travelers a month.

Now, a series of cameras at Terminal A scan the curbside, notify officials of drivers hanging around the area and offer data insights that the airport just didn’t have before, said Airport Landside Operations Manager Ciara Gamble.

“We had visibility gaps in our staff. We knew that it was busy, but we couldn't identify specific times of the day that it was busier, specific areas on the curb that were busier than others,” Gamble said. “So that's kind of where Automotus came in; they helped us collect all that data, and now they built a dashboard for us to be able to see all of that traffic in real time.”

After installation late last year, the new system was turned on in February and it uses AI-powered software to monitor the constant flow of vehicles entering and exiting the curb, with an eye for those overstaying their welcome.

The system uses a real-time dashboard and push notifications to let staff know that a vehicle has been sitting for more than four minutes, giving them a chance to make contact. If a driver refuses to move, a ticket is easily issued from the staff member’s smartphone.

If a citation is issued, an evidence package is created and sent directly to the city of Sacramento. Gamble noted that it’s policy for staff to make contact with a driver before issuing a citation.

Just last month, Gamble said Terminal A saw more than 175,000 vehicles along the curbside and is already seeing a substantial reduction in the dwell times.

“We went from 60 percent of vehicles being parked for less than four minutes, so 40 percent being parked over four minutes. Now, we are down to 89.17 percent of vehicles being parked for less than four minutes, specifically on that curb,” she said.

The curb has become an increasingly important piece of real estate in recent years with new demands coming from delivery and on-demand transportation services, said Automotus Vice President of Growth Andrew Kirk.

“What I think is really interesting about Automotus … is that I never realized how important or challenging the curb was in dense, high-use areas, like an airport, like a city,” he said. “But it makes sense if you think about it, you have this asset that's fixed. There's no way to make more of it.”

The only option for these sorts of spaces, he said, is better management or doing nothing and allowing congestion to build up.

“Ultimately, the goal isn't parking violations, the goal is changing behavior, right?” Kirk said. “They want that curb turnover. They want you to use the four minutes. They want you to pick up and drop off, but then after that time, they want you to leave.”

Unlike some other AI-enabled platforms, the Automotus platform is not focused on the public safety space, Kirk noted. The collection of data centers only on the parameters set for a given environment, meaning any footage of a crime would have to coincide with a parking violation to be retained.