Parking tickets are an everyday occurrence and can therefore be everyday nuisances. Unfortunately, overstaying a welcome can lead to an expensive parking ticket. This is a common problem that irks plenty of drivers. Fortunately enough, one particular driver has found a way to beat the system.
As WFMY News reports, the solution came from 19-year-old Palo Alto local, Joshua Browder. He created a website, DoNotPay.co.uk, which uses artificial intelligence to argue fighting ticket violations. The website was first launched in September and has since saved UK-based drivers an estimated $4 - 5 million. The site will soon be coming to the US as well.
The website works via a robot lawyer that Browder created, also known as a "bot." The bot asks questions about a driver's ticket, from the pretense of the ticket, to how obvious the signs were that it was necessary to issue one. Once the root of the ticket is reached from the questions the bot generates a letter that is sent to the local authorities.
Apparently, the bot has done very well to dismiss some of the tickets issued. In fact, around 60% of the tickets that were received by the bot, were dismissed.
Browder sees his invention as a public service, particularly for those with limited means. That was, after all, why he made the invention in the first place.
CBS San Francisco discussed where the need came from. When the Stanford University student went to his parents with his fourth parking ticket, they told him he would no longer be helped. As a student, Browder knew he did not have the finances to cover future expenses. So he instead used what he did have - programming skills. What resulted was DoNotPay.co.uk, which will debut in New York for the United States.
Browder has eyes set on much grander levels. "One of my projects is expanding the technology to assist asylum seekers - Syrian refugees in the UK. The way it will work is the bot will have to understand Arabic inputs and produce documents in English and also answer to their questions in Arabic."
