‘Ultimate’ safety camera developed with EC funding

10.38 | 8 November 2010 | | 4 comments

UK roads could soon be under the surveillance of the ‘ultimate’ safety camera, according to a Yahoo news report.

Known as ASSET (Advanced Safety and Driver Support for Essential Road Transport), the camera uses 3D technology to detect multiple driving offences at the same time.

As well as speeding, ASSET can see if a driver is wearing a seatbelt, measure the distance between cars (to identify tailgating), read number plates and tax discs (to see if the driver has valid insurance and Vehicle Excise Duty).

ASSET will generate instant multiple penalties for drivers, raising the possibility of an instant ban. It will be fitted to police patrol vehicles and the information will be fed back to a central police database.

ASSET, developed by the VVT Technical Research Centre in Finland, has been funded to the tune of £7.1 million by the European Commission. The project began in July 2008 and testing, currently taking place in Finland, France, Germany and Austria, will be completed by December 2011.

It is expected to go to market in 2013, and to cost £50,000 per camera.

Edmund King, AA president, said: "Tailgating is more dangerous in most cases than speeding, so I think most motorists would welcome it, as long as it is not used as a money making machine."

Click here to read the full Yahoo news report.

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    More toys for the persecution minded authoritarians. “Advanced Safety and Driver Support” etc.? Just the opposite – ‘Selective High Intelligence Technology’.

    The AA’s president believes motorists would welcome it? How far removed from reality does one have to be to state such a thing!


    Derek Reynolds, St Albans
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    yes I agree. A series of ED209s around the country. ‘You are illegally speeding on the public highways. You have 15 seconds to slow down’ If not, the car gets riddled with bullet holes. Magic.


    Shaun, Northants
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    Does it not look uncannily similar to the robot that went beserk in Robocop 1……..?? Hmm £50k machine or keeping more traffic cops on the road…….??


    Joe, Sefton
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    Errr.. Can any authorities afford these cameras that cost a mere snip at £50K each? I thought the CSR put paid to all this? Ahh, they’ll be installed just in time for the next election in 2014. Smart move.


    Shaun, Northants
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