Bendigo Smart City Roadmap Outlines Next Products and Developments

Bendigo City Council released its 2027 smart city roadmap on July 11, listing specific products including camera-free smart glasses for maintenance crews and expanded household AI subscriptions for residents.

The timing aligns with rising demand for tools that boost field productivity without constant recording, as city budgets tighten and summer heat strains services in central Victoria.

Deployments target Hargreaves Street and Rosalind Park precinct

Work crews will test the glasses first along Hargreaves Street between Williamson and Mitchell streets, where traffic sensors already feed data into a central dashboard. The Bendigo Tech Innovation Centre on View Street will host training sessions starting in August, while the Rosalind Park solar array site will receive linked AI units to monitor irrigation during peak heat periods.

A 2025 pilot across 40 municipal vehicles cut average repair response times by 22 percent, according to internal logs. Each pair of glasses carries a $189 per-unit cost under the new contract, with full procurement budgeted at $312,000 for the initial 1,650 devices scheduled for delivery in March 2027.

Practical steps for residents and businesses

Households in the central postcode 3550 can register for the family AI tier through the council portal before December 31, gaining discounted access at $9 monthly. Local firms on Mitchell Street should contact the innovation centre by October to join the productivity pilot waitlist and receive equipment briefings ahead of the March deployment.