The AI pothole hunter
Tech Life
BBC
4.3 • 227 Ratings
🗓️ 12 May 2026
⏱️ 27 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Drivers and cyclists know the dangers of potholes and broken road signs. A Swedish company is fitting vehicles with cameras, and using AI to spot potential problems and defects. We speak to the CEO to find out how it works.
Also in Tech Life this week: some think the internet's business model is obsolete. We talk to a big tech leader on what might replace it. And a young entrepreneur, who learned to code without a computer, tells us about his AI teaching app that will work without the internet.
Presenter: Chris Vallance Producer: Tom Quinn
(Image: Deep potholes have formed on a tarmac road. They are deep enough to catch rainwater. A car is about to drive over them. Credit: Getty Images)
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, music radio podcasts. |
| 0:07.3 | On BBC Sounds, there are podcasts to help you look after your body and your mind. |
| 0:12.7 | From increasing your immunity to feeling more confident. |
| 0:16.6 | Or tips on how to focus. |
| 0:18.5 | Sorry, what will you say? |
| 0:19.7 | If it matters to you, it matters to us. |
| 0:22.6 | Feel good inside of it. |
| 0:24.3 | With What's Up Docs. |
| 0:25.9 | And Complex with Kimberly Wilson. |
| 0:27.9 | Listen on BBC Sounds. |
| 0:30.4 | This week on TechLife, the road is long, with many a winding turn, and many a pothole, and many a broken streetlight and many other problems. |
| 0:39.3 | But perhaps there's tech that can fix all that. |
| 0:42.8 | The Internet's business model is obsolete, some think. |
| 0:45.3 | We talk to a big tech leader on what might replace it. |
| 0:48.9 | And the prize-winning AI educational app that will soon be chasing up students in Ethiopia and beyond. |
| 0:56.3 | I noticed you haven't studied today. You were doing so well with quadratic equations yesterday. |
| 1:01.8 | Want to pick up where we left off? |
| 1:03.2 | Music Well, we start this audio journey on the road, and there are miles and miles of roads. |
| 1:32.0 | I bet if you measured all the roads in Britain, you'd find that there were at least 396,700 |
| 1:37.8 | kilometres of them at a guess. |
| 1:40.7 | And as all you drivers and cyclists will know, many of them have dangerous defects, |
| 1:45.7 | from potholes you could lose a pram in to road signs obscured by trees and dirt. |
... |
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