Private Firm to Operate Mobile Speed Cameras in New Zealand

The New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) is about to take over the country’s 45 mobile cameras, as well as 150 fixed speed cameras, from police by July 2025. It plans to add another 50 fixed cameras soon.

The agency already has a contract with United States company Verro Mobility, which will take over the fixed cameras from later this year. These include automated number plate recognition software.

The provider which wins the mobile contract will not issue speeding tickets or get paid bonuses based on the number of fines. Instead, all fees will go to the government consolidated fund.

NZTA will process the images, issue the fines, and decide where and when the cameras will be placed.

Captured images will be sent to data centres in Sydney run by Amazon Web Services and Microsoft, and be held for 30 days while NZTA assesses them.

The tender is for spot-speed tickets only, using the private company’s unmarked vehicles and non-uniformed staff.

However, bidders must show they can meet future requirements, “which could include point-to-point mobile operations.” They must also show they have the potential to detect people not wearing seatbelts and drivers using mobile phones.

A recent privacy impact assessment told NZTA to safeguard the personal data caught by the cameras and to strike an appropriate balance between using artificial intelligence and human oversight.

The tender calls for a “high degree of evidential accuracy and assurance” along with effective digital security measures.

Very little weighting is given to non-enforcement factors; just five percent is allocated to broader benefits, such as job creation in New Zealand.

NZTA is aiming to mimic the effectiveness of the police “anytime, anywhere” positioning of roadside breath testing, which has been effective in deterring drunk driving. It estimates the system upgrade will triple the number of camera-issued tickets by 2030 to three million a year, and increase prosecutions to around 3,300.