Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Safety Pilot Ai Right Of Way topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
CTA committee approves one‑year STV pilot to detect people and objects on tracks
Summary
The Chicago Transit Authority’s finance committee approved a one‑year pilot with STV Inc. to test camera‑based, edge‑processed AI that detects people and large objects on the right of way. The committee placed an ordinance on the omnibus and the full board later approved the omnibus, authorizing the pilot and a $60,000 stipend.
The Chicago Transit Authority’s Finance, Audit and Budget Committee approved placing an ordinance on the omnibus to authorize a one‑year pilot agreement with STV Incorporated to test a camera‑based artificial‑intelligence system for detecting people and large objects on track right of way. The board later approved the omnibus at the full meeting.
The CTA presentation said STV was selected from 14 proposals to pilot cameras and an on‑site edge device at two rail stations with up to four cameras per station. The $60,000 stipend covers hardware, a license for real‑time alert monitoring software, project management, installation support, model training and testing hours; CTA will retain the hardware after the pilot. Molly Poppe, CTA chief planning and innovation officer, and Cara Bader, vice president of strategy and innovation, said the system processes video at the station (edge processing) and sends alerts to up to 25 licensed users rather than streaming full video to a remote server.
Board members asked about detection limits and response times. Poppe said the pilot will measure how quickly the system can reliably detect incursions and how alerts should be routed to control center staff and rail operations. The system targets people and large objects such as bicycles or suitcases; it is not designed to detect firearms. Poppe described a roughly 15–20 week initial schedule (five weeks prep, five weeks model training and validation, and at least six weeks of live testing) and said the project team will work with operations and the control center to develop rules of engagement for alerts.
The ordinance was placed on the committee omnibus by motion of Director Jha, seconded by Director Ortiz; the committee recorded a roll‑call vote and the motion passed. At the full board meeting the omnibus containing the ordinance was approved by roll call vote, carrying the authorization for the pilot forward.
CTA staff said the pilot is one of several tools the agency is testing to reduce right‑of‑way incursions, which the presentation said numbered more than 2,000 incidents in 2024 and were up 32 percent year‑to‑date compared with the same period in 2024. CTA displayed a goal of using pilot data to assess whether the system should be scaled, refined or replaced by alternate approaches.
Implementation steps cited in the presentation included station selection, hardware installation, model training and validation, live field testing, dashboard analysis of false positives and use cases, and a decision point after the pilot about scaling or revising the approach.
