They're assuring us they won't be able to identify specific vehicles or record our licence plate information.
But City Council will be asked Monday to approve a pilot project in which radar sensors will be installed in a limited number of Sault Ste. Marie street lights.
"The data captured by the sensors will provide traffic flow, traffic counting, average speed and volume information that will be used by the engineering and traffic departments as part of their ongoing work monitoring traffic data," says Tom Vair, the city's deputy chief administrative officer for community development and enterprise services.
"The sensors do not identify specific vehicles or collect license plate information," Vair says in a report to Mayor Provenzano and city councillors.
"City staff and PUC Services have been investigating the potential to deploy Smart City sensors on existing and new LED streetlights, including radar sensors as part of their Smart City strategy."
"City staff and PUC intend to conduct a proof of concept (POC) at select locations within the city to demonstrate and test the Smart City sensors in a real- world environment."
"A total of 40 Smart City sensors will be deployed and the demonstration is expected to operate over a six-month period. The cost of the pilot project is $2,000," Vair says.
"The sensors will be procured by PUC and are supplied by the vendor, Liveable Cities/LED Roadway Lighting and are managed and monitored using an advanced, cloud-hosted software platform called SmartLinx CMS, which under this proof of concept is available to stakeholders at the City and PUC."
Liveable Cities/LED Roadway Lighting is based in Halifax and was founded by former Saultite Chuck Cartmill, a 1969 graduate of Sault College's electrical technology program.
Cartmill explains the technology in the video shown above, prepared by Export Development Canada.
"The pilot will enable city staff to evaluate the performance of the technology and information generated to assess its use moving forward," says Tom Vair.
"The City and PUC intend to evaluate the option of additional deployments of the Smart City sensors within the City at the successful conclusion of the POC."
Monday's City Council meeting will be livestreamed on SooToday starting at 4:30 p.m.