This toll system leverages AI, UPI to reduce traffic congestion
Calsoft, an Indian-American tech company, is revolutionizing India's toll collection system by introducing an automated solution. This innovative approach utilizes NVIDIA's artificial intelligence (AI) technology and India's Unified Payments Interface (UPI). The primary goal of this initiative is to alleviate traffic congestion, often caused by manual toll collection at numerous tollbooths across the country's extensive road network.
Overcoming challenges of traditional tollbooths
Traditional tollbooths have been a significant contributor to traffic delays due to their manual operation. The average waiting time at these facilities was eight minutes in 2018-19. However, introduction of FASTags significantly reduced this time to just 47 seconds. Calsoft's automated system is designed to further streamline this process, by accurately reading diverse Indian license plates that vary in color, size, font, and language.
It achieves high accuracy in plate recognition
The automated toll system developed by Calsoft not only reads license plates but also charges drivers through their UPI accounts. This removes the need for manual toll collection and aids in reducing traffic congestion. Currently under testing in some metropolitan cities, the technology has reportedly achieved around 95% accuracy in reading number plates.
The system overcomes environmental challenges
Vipin Shankar, Senior Vice-President of Technology at Calsoft, highlighted the challenges faced in developing this system. He stated that night-time detection and bettering model accuracy on pixel distortions, due to environmental impacts such as fog, heavy rains, reflections from bright sunshine, and dusty winds were particularly challenging. The system uses NVIDIA's Metropolis for tracking and Triton for managing AI models, along with DeepStream for real-time data processing to overcome these hurdles.
Calsoft's AI toll system is equipped for future growth
Calsoft's new toll system is packed with NVIDIA Jetson modules and A100 GPUs. This setup ensures that the system can handle future growth and adapt to changing traffic conditions, thereby enhancing toll collection efficiency across India's roadways. The initiative aligns with Minister for Road Transport & Highways Nitin Gadkari's announcement earlier this year, about India planning to shift to GPS-based toll connection.
