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by Sebb767 1363 days ago
You'd need to place those, maintain them, prevent vandalism, route power to them, pay for network connectivity and weather-proof them. The price of the cameras is not the problem.
1 comments

I will place and maintain road cameras for $50/yr, including data connectivity for plates. Minimum 1,000 cameras. 75% uptime/scan rate guarantee.
You'd likely lose a lot of money trying to do that, you're vastly underestimating the cost of maintaining the data network for that kind of installation alone, even before looking at the cost of physical installation.
If it's a bargain, take me up on the offer then.
It absolutely is a bargain. I don't have the money or time to risk but I strongly recommend that you start a company, build a website and advertise your service to the world. I'm assuming you'll also deal with any regulatory and data protection issues, get permission from local authorities etc... . You've found an astonishing gap in the market, it seems.
> get permission from local authorities

For some reason I guess the business plan was about forgetting to get the permits...

Ok, I'll bite. How would you do that? How do they stay connected and powered?
Within the UK, 4G sim cards and data are cheap. Android phone with tether capabilities, Raspberry Pi with solar and a webcam.

Or even better to save all that faff, root a phone, run the drivers plate OCR software using the phones camera, stick to a gantry and send results via text message. You wouldn't even need live updates, pull the latest data at midnight each day.

Text is cheap.

I suspect the computing and communication parts of a project like this are by far the easiest bits.

Weatherproofing the camera and solar panels, getting permission to get them installed, actually installing them (working at heights over busy roads) and then maintaining them would be pretty expensive. You might also have to pay rent to whoever owns gantries, and what about locations where there aren't any existing gantries?

What about insurance in case you camera falls off the gantry onto a car and kills someone?

Edit: What about roads that don't have network coverage (not that uncommon in the Scottish Highlands)

Solar panels, probably.
You'll either have to do this guerrilla style, in which case solar panels will be far too obvious. Or you'll have to apply for all relevant permits, in which case you'll never get them.
buy the data from someone else.
That's not how the market works.
For reference: Speed cameras have an annual operating cost of ~$30,000/year.[1]

[1]: https://www.publichealth.columbia.edu/public-health-now/news...

I suspect speed cameras have to produce results that are verifiable in court, while ALPR cameras just best-effort help locate cars.
$1000 per yr in actual op cost. $29000 p/y to pay the contracted company to say it's $30k.

Of course I'm exaggerating. But at the same time gov is not known for being efficient + effective.

"I will place and maintain"

I suspect a lot of that $50,000 a year would get burned getting a single camera installed.

Only if you do it legally
Why do you think any city in any Western country will allow you to pepper public property with thousands of surveillance devices?
Right, gov't doesn't like competition
What does your SLA look like? Do I get to pick the roads? And when do I get my $50k back when you fail to deliver?
SLA: 75% of the cars that pass will be captured. The 25% covers equipment failure/theft/service outage/etc. This applies to the whole set, not per camera.

We mutually agree the roads - but it's unlikely I'll disagree unless you want to place four cameras per country worldwide to maximize logistics difficulties.

Half upfront, half when the service has been operating 3 months. Full refund if SLA not met. If you can show you're very solvent, you can pay in arrears instead.

>for $50/yr..... Minimum how many years?

I see software doesn't seem to be incuded.

Also, your numbers sound like you like to bid for government contracts.

1 year minimum (my breakeven point is 8 months optimistically, 12 months more realistically, and the profit comes from either you continuing the contract past 12 months or from someone else contracting me for the same cameras).