Smart Compliance: How AI parking firm pushed from Australia is using Kiwis’ private data to ticket them

Reporter·NZ Herald·14 Nov, 2026 04:00 PM11 mins to read‌Parking companies using AI and number plate reading cameras are expanding fast in New Zealand after being granted access to Kiwis' private data in the motor vehicle register. An AI-powered parking firm – blocked from accessing Australians’ private data – has brought its cameras to New Zealand and issued 238,314 tickets last year. Critics fear that as AI makes surveillance “almost costless”, issuing citizens fines for every mistake or minor rule broken could soon become a common money-spinner