KaarbonTech has introduced SMART Shot AI, an AI-supported monitoring tool designed to give local authorities continuous visibility into the condition of critical highways and drainage assets, filling the gaps left by routine inspection cycles.
Scheduled inspections remain a cornerstone of asset management, but they capture only a single moment in time. For sites where conditions can shift rapidly, such as rising water levels, accumulating debris or deteriorating drainage, that snapshot approach can leave authorities without the evidence needed to understand what actually happened between visits.
SMART Shot AI is built to close that gap. By pairing regular image capture with AI-driven analysis, the system flags visible change and emerging risk as it happens, giving operational teams a continuous, data-backed view of how assets perform over time. It is not a substitute for professional judgement or established inspection protocols, but a layer of intelligence that sharpens both.
In practice, that means authorities can see whether debris keeps returning after clearance, whether water levels are trending upward, whether an obstruction is worsening, or whether an issue is resolving on its own. The result is a richer evidence base for making operational calls: when a site visit is warranted, where maintenance budgets should be directed, and how individual assets are holding up across their operational lifecycle.
For local authorities under pressure to do more with tighter maintenance budgets, tools like SMART Shot AI point to a broader shift in infrastructure management, from periodic checks toward continuous, evidence-led monitoring.
Solar-powered, self-running units can be deployed at locations where additional visibility would support decision-making, including culverts, trash screens, watercourses, high-risk junctions and other hard-to-reach or rapidly changing sites. Configurable image capture, night vision, secure upload and AI-led review allow teams to assess change through a central dashboard and focus attention where it is most needed.
Conor Holgate, innovation & change manager at KaarbonTech, said: “Local authorities already hold a significant amount of asset information, but one of the hardest gaps to close is what happens after an inspection team leaves. SMART Shot AI adds evidence over time, helping teams understand not only what an asset looked like on a particular day, but how it reacted, whether risk developed and when intervention could have the greatest impact.”
For authorities managing large and varied networks, this additional visibility can help reduce unnecessary site visits while supporting earlier, more targeted intervention. It can also provide stronger evidence for maintenance planning, investigations, funding decisions and scrutiny by showing how conditions developed rather than relying on a single observation.
The technology is now being deployed across live local authority networks, with installations focused on locations where a clearer understanding of change over time can directly support operational decisions.
