How LADOT Uses UbiHub AI+ for Curb Management and Mobility Intelligence

Q: What is UbiHub AI+ and how does it support transportation departments?

UbiHub AI+ is Ubicquia's edge computing platform for critical infrastructure. Mounted on existing streetlight infrastructure, it combines cameras, edge AI, LTE connectivity, and support for additional sensors. For transportation departments, it enables monitoring of curb utilization, parking, illegal dumping, micromobility, and other street activity from infrastructure the city already owns.

Q: What is curb management and why does it matter?

Curb management is the practice of allocating and monitoring curb space across competing uses — parking, deliveries, rideshare pickups, bus stops, bike lanes, and micromobility. As curb demand intensifies with e-commerce and mobility services, cities need real-time visibility into how curbs are actually used to make evidence-based policy decisions.

Q: How does edge AI help with illegal dumping detection?

Edge AI processes video on the device itself, detecting dumping events in real time and generating alerts without streaming raw video to a central server. This means faster response, lower bandwidth costs, better privacy (raw video doesn't leave the site), and continued detection even during network disruptions.

Q: What is mobility intelligence?

Mobility intelligence is real-time data about how people and vehicles move through a city — pedestrian counts, vehicle flow, bike and scooter usage, transit ridership. It informs transportation planning, safety interventions, and infrastructure investment decisions with actual behavior data instead of periodic surveys.

Q: How is deploying on existing streetlights different from traditional sensor networks?

Traditional sensor deployments require new poles, power connections, communications infrastructure, and permits — often adding months or years to a project. Mounting on existing streetlights leverages infrastructure the city already owns, with power and (typically) authorization already in place. Deployment happens in weeks instead of quarters.

The Los Angeles Department of Transportation deployed edge AI on existing streetlight infrastructure to expand visibility into illegal dumping, curb utilization, parking, micromobility, and transportation activity — without new construction.

The Los Angeles Department of Transportation (LADOT) uses Ubicquia's UbiHub AI+ platform on existing streetlight infrastructure to gain real-time visibility into activity across the public right-of-way. The initiative supports monitoring for illegal dumping, parking and curb utilization, construction, micromobility, bus-stop activity, and broader transportation intelligence — deployed on infrastructure LADOT already owns instead of building a dedicated sensor network.

The problem being solved: in several commercial and industrial areas throughout Los Angeles, recurring illegal dumping, vandalism, and infrastructure theft created ongoing operational challenges. Dumped materials regularly accumulated near intersections and along critical corridors, creating hazards, obstructing traffic flow, and requiring repeated response from city crews. LADOT needed a better way to understand what was happening in these locations between site visits — moving beyond citizen reports and field inspections to proactive, data-driven decision-making.

The challenge: managing what you can't see

Managing city streets requires more than moving vehicles efficiently. Recurring illegal dumping, vandalism, and infrastructure theft in commercial and industrial areas created ongoing operational issues that traditional monitoring — citizen reports, periodic inspections — couldn't address proactively. LADOT needed continuous visibility into problem areas to move from reactive response to preventive management.

The solution: turning streetlights into intelligence

Many of the locations experiencing recurring issues already contained an overlooked asset: streetlights. Distributed throughout the public right-of-way, streetlights provide power, elevation, and strategic placement — perfect infrastructure for cameras and analytics. Rather than building a dedicated monitoring network, LADOT deployed UbiHub AI+ on existing lighting to support cameras, edge AI, and real-time awareness in the areas where visibility was needed most.

The platform supports monitoring related to illegal dumping activity, parking and curb utilization, construction monitoring, micromobility operations, bus-stop activity, public-space awareness, and transportation intelligence — all through infrastructure LADOT already owned. Deployment happened faster and with significantly less complexity than approaches requiring new poles, power connections, or dedicated communications networks.

What LADOT gained from real-time curb and street intelligence

Improved awareness in high-concern locationsContinuous visibility into areas historically affected by illegal dumping, vandalism, and nuisance activity — enabling proactive response instead of reactive cleanup.

Broader visibility into curb and street conditionsOne platform captures parking, curb utilization, construction, micromobility, and transportation activity across critical corridors — no separate sensor deployments per use case.

Faster deployment via existing infrastructureMounting on existing streetlights eliminated the traditional barriers of new poles, trenching, and dedicated communications — significantly reducing time to visibility.

Scalable foundation for future initiativesThe platform architecture supports additional use cases (bus-stop analytics, delivery activity, event management) without new infrastructure investment as needs evolve.

Frequently asked questions

What is UbiHub AI+ and how does it support transportation departments?

What is curb management and why does it matter?

How does edge AI help with illegal dumping detection?

What is mobility intelligence?

How is deploying on existing streetlights different from traditional sensor networks?

Download the illegal dumping detection case study

How the Los Angeles Department of Transportation uses UbiHub AI+ on existing streetlights to detect illegal dumping, monitor curb utilization, and support real-time mobility intelligence.

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