Traffic management centres have traditionally relied heavily on fixed roadside cameras to understand what is happening on the network. North Carolina is now adding another layer of observation: live imagery from dash cameras mounted on commercial vehicles, providing visibility in locations where conventional infrastructure is unavailable.

The North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) has become the first US state agency to integrate live dashcam imagery directly into its traffic management systems through Iteris' ClearGuide platform. The imagery is supplied by Vizzion's Drives service, which provides one image per second from a growing network of connected commercial-vehicle cameras.

The scale of this mobile sensor network is significant. The cameras collectively cover around three million miles each day, including approximately 100,000 miles within North Carolina. Instead of waiting for a fixed camera to capture an incident, traffic operators can select available vehicle imagery on a map and examine current road conditions.

This adds an important contextual layer to conventional traffic data. NCDOT can use the imagery to assess weather conditions, roadworks, lane closures and incidents, while combining it with probe speed data and the locations of temporary traffic-management equipment such as arrow boards.

The pilots have already demonstrated several practical applications. NCDOT used the imagery to establish the location and duration of a wildfire, monitor fog and adverse weather, verify variable message sign warnings and identify active work zones. Such information can help operators determine whether an event requires intervention without immediately sending personnel to the site.

The approach is also interesting from an infrastructure perspective. Expanding fixed camera coverage across an entire road network can require substantial investment in equipment, communications and maintenance. A distributed fleet of connected vehicles provides a complementary source of observations without requiring a new roadside installation at every location.

For ITS, the development illustrates the growing role of mobile sensing. Traffic networks are increasingly becoming observable through a combination of fixed infrastructure, connected vehicles, probe data and imagery. Bringing these sources together could give traffic managers a more complete picture of network conditions—and help them respond to incidents with greater speed and precision.

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NORMAN, Helen. NCDOT taps dashcam imagery for real-time traffic data. Traffic Technology Today [online]. 2026_09_23 [cit. 2026-10-01]. Accessable: https://www.traffictechnologytoday.com/news/traffic-management/ncdot-taps-dashcam-imagery-for-real-time-traffic-data.html

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