A new app that claims to be able to turn a smartphone into a speed camera has raised eyebrows since launching last month – and has seen its developers receive a string of abusive emails from disgruntled drivers.
The application, which is called Speedcam Anywhere and is currently available on the Google Play store, can be used to record a passing motorist and professes to be able to estimate their speed to calculate if they’re over the limit or not.
While the footage can be saved and a report generated to share with authorities, it cannot be used to enforce speeding offences, having not received approval from the Home Office for use as a certified speed detection device.
Snitch cam! A new smartphone app claims to turn a smartphone into a speed camera to calculate if drivers are speeding – but the tech can’t be used to prosecute motorists
Launched in March, the app’s developers told The Guardian that they have already been forced into anonymity after receiving a flood of vicious communications from the public.
Yet they continue to back the use of the technology that encourages people to report on one another.
‘We’re getting quite abusive emails,’ the app’s founder told The Guardian under the premise that his name would not be shared.
He adds that he does not have a ‘personal vendetta against anyone’ and claims the app is there to make roads safer by becoming a ‘deterrent to speeding’ and to encourage the police to take speeding more seriously.
A scan of the 177 reviews the app has received so far on the Google Play Store give an indication of the tone of emails its developers claim to have received from motorists lambasting their Big Brother-style tech.
Valkyria 9001 commented: ‘Another brilliant idea to help the government turn the public against one another while they sit there with the self entitled rich to destroy the country.’
Alasdair McGregor posted a review calling the app ‘Stasi-cam Anywhere’ in reference to repressive East German secret police unit that operated from the 1950s.
‘Just what the world needed. Use it for settling vendettas or getting back at that neighbour who always takes your parking space,’ he said.
In their review, Carlos de almeida said: ‘Absolutely ridiculous this snitch culture we are experiencing nowadays.
‘The creator(s) of this app should be caught speeding using their own apps and be reported to police for it… What a joke!!!’
The app, which is said to have been developed by a team of artificial intelligence (AI) scientists who have graduated from top UK universities and previously worked for Silicon Valley tech companies, has software that can read a passing car’s number plate.
This is then cross referenced with the DVLA’s database to identify the make and model of the car.
Once this has been determined the app will know the length between the specific vehicle’s front and rear axles.
This information is then relayed to the footage captured to calculate at what speed the driver is travelling and whether they are over the limit in that area, which can be located using GPS data.
The Speedcam Anywhere app details how the technology measures the speed of a passing car and the report it generates that can be shared with authorities. It is free to download but users need to buy credits to access it
While the footage can be saved and a report generated to share with authorities, it cannot be used to enforce speeding offences, having not received approval from the Home Office for use as a certified speed detection device
Yet, the app cannot result in drivers receiving speeding tickets as the technology isn’t signed off as a speed detection device and therefore cannot provide sufficient evidence for police to prosecute motorists.
However, boffins behind the tech say the footage can still be provided to the police and used as evidence for other offence types.
Many forces are signed up to a nationwide portal created in 2018 by dashcam brand Nextbase – this allows drivers and cyclists to upload their clips of careless and dangerous driving to a police database for review.
In its first three years, some 68,000 videos were uploaded to the portal.
Latest records show that around four in five cases result in some form of police action, which ranges from warning letters to fixed penalty notices and even court cases.
Developers behind the tech say the footage can still be issued to the police and used as evidence for other offence types, such as dangerous driving
While the app is free to download, users have to buy credits if they want to process the video footage captured.
Speedcam Anywhere’s website say this charge is ‘a small fee’ to cover the cost of running the AI system.
Buying 1,000 credits costs £14.99, which can capture up to 1,000 clips in ‘Basic Mode’ or 100 videos in ‘Pro Mode’, which gives a more accurate estimation of speed.
When the app was first launched in March, Google had initially refused to make it available in the Play Store having questioned the validity of the tech’s capabilities to use AI to estimate speed.
However, it is now available for download after the developers provided a demonstration of how the app works.
An iOS version has also been created, though Apple has so far refused its distribution without explanation.
‘We’re not sure why they would block a useful piece of technology, something that could save people’s lives,’ the app’s founder told The Guardian.
Martin B, who posted a review of the app, described the concept as ‘awful’.
‘This is wrong on so many levels and should be illegal… Live and let live.
‘It has a potential to create additional distraction to drivers by wannabe cops.
‘There is no need for apps like this and enforcement should be left to the police so they can do it where it’s necessary.’
James Tagimuri posted: ‘What a load of s***e, so we have to pay for credits to grass speeders to the police. We already pay the police to catch speeders.’
Jamie Leng also commented: ‘In East Germany, citizens were encouraged to report their neighbours to the Stasi for even the smallest societal infraction.
‘Congratulations on creating a modern day version of that. If you couldn’t tell, I’m being sarcastic. This app disgusts me.’
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