Object storage provider Cloudian Inc. is teaming up with Japanese digital advertising agency Dentsu Inc. to deliver the world’s first targeted ads to drivers as they drive past billboards in Tokyo.

The experimental system has been set up on a major highway in the Japanese capital, using roadside cameras to capture images of vehicles and their drivers as they whizz by. The system relies on deep learning-based AI technology to handle tasks such as vehicle recognition, driver characteristics (such as their age and gender) and traffic patterns.

Using the data collected, an appropriate advert is them automatically displayed on the digital billboard as the driver passes by. Cloudian’s CEO and founder Micahel Tso said it takes less than a second to display the ad from the time the image is captured. The ads are paid for by Dentsu clients, who ask to target a range of specific vehicles and drivers.

The system is based on a complex IT infrastructure, with Cloudian’s HyperStore object storage supported by Quanta Cloud Technology, intelcaffe deep learning software, Amazon Web Services and SmartInsight Corp.

“This will become the world’s first deep learning-enabled roadside advertising system with vehicle-specific, real-time targeting,” Tso said in a statement. “One major outcome of the project is demonstrating deep learning algorithms utilizing HyperStore’s sophisticated metadata to realize real-time recognition and classification. Big data that otherwise might have remained stagnant can be automatically turned into smart data, and highly efficient analysis can be provided.”

Cloudian set up the system by feeding its HyperStore software masses of training data consisting of vehicle recognition information, images and videos of cars, and vehicle attributes. This data helps the software to tell different makes of cars apart. The system will also capture detailed, real-time traffic volume data at different times of the day, making this data available to institutions like the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Tourism, local governments and other companies.

Cloudian said the project will go from proof-of-concept to practical use within a 6 to 12 month timeframe, beginning in Tokyo and other Japanese cities before potentially being deployed internationally.

The benefits for advertisers are obvious – for example, they can display eco-friendly products to drivers of electric cars, or advertise vehicles with better fuel economy to anyone driving a gas-guzzling diesel motor. For ad companies like Dentus meanwhile, the technology would of course allow it to charge much higher prices to advertise on its digital billboards.

The potential uses expand beyond just advertising to drivers too. In fact, the technology could be used anywhere there are digital billboards – at shopping malls or mass transit stations, for example, scanning the faces of passersby and targeting them with ads suitable for their demographic.

Of course it remains to be seen if consumers will appreciate being bombarded with ever-more invasive ads wherever they go, even if Ichiro T Jinnai, Director of Dentsu’s Out Of Home Media Service Division, insists they can’t get enough.

“In today’s fast-moving advertising world … consumers expect tailored experiences and uniquely relevant messages,” he enthused, conveniently forgetting that the explosive growth of ad blocking software suggests the opposite is true.

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