Piccadilly Circus digital billboards to target passing cars with specific ads

The famous digital advertising billboards in London's Piccadilly Circus are set to be illuminated again later this month following nine months of darkness for maintenance work.

As part of this, the boards have been installed with artificial intelligence (AI) that is able to scan and recognise specific models of passing cars and use data insights relating to who is most likely to be driving these vehicles to target ads at them, Wired reports.

This signals an innovative new approach to advertising, while the digital display boards now also have the ability to show a single advert rather than just six separate ones. The old screens have been merged to allow for one brand to dominate the boards for 30 seconds every ten minutes.

Brands including Coca-Cola and Samsung are first in line to benefit from this experience once the billboards are reilluminated.

When the screens reopen for business later this month, they will form the largest display of its kind in Europe with a resolution of more than 4K thanks to its 11 million pixels.