Moderator note: Split from https://www.railforums.co.uk/thread...s-for-driver-only-operated-doo-trains.233296/
I have never really understood why, when an iPhone 13 can do a high quality picture in almost any light conditions, the rail industry can't fit cameras better than a cheapo Android phone from 10 years ago. It really is very poor.
The fundamental issue here is technological lag caused by the need for railway systems to undergo extensive testing and approval process. Compounded by the challenge of renewing and maintaining a large and dispersed installation base, often in harsh environments.
The consumer tech industry (e.g. mobile phone vendors) just chuck stuff out in the market and deal with any issues as they arise, sometimes with spectacular results like exploding batteries. On the railway you need to be 100% sure things will work reliably, under all circumstances, and won't cause any additional safety issues themselves. This results in bespoke, relatively low volume (e.g. by comparison to mobile phones) solutions that are therefore very expensive and thus get renewed less often.
But ironically many cheap high volume products actually turn out to have excellent QA, because margins are so low, large scale product returns are not commercially viable for their manufacturers. And the railway industry is missing/delaying opportunities to improve safety using widely available technology. It's an endemic issue in all safety critical industries, but I don't really know the solution because the approvals processes exist for a reason. Perhaps the approval processes could be a bit simpler and more pragmatic.
The budget strapped military are increasingly looking to utilize Commercial Of The Shelf (COTS) systems, these being procured on the basis that they are widely used in similar commercial/industrial applications and therefore already mostly proven. Application testing is obviously still required but most of the costs of developing bespoke products are avoided. If that's good enough for a Nuclear Submarine I can't see why a similar approach could not be adopted on the railway
IIRC the RAIB did make a recommendation to NR to investigate COTS for improving remote condition monitoring of level crossing assets, so perhaps that's a start.
