By 2019, Delhi's traffic to be manned by artificial intelligence
In a bid to improve the city's traffic management, Delhi Police will finally start working on making it an AI-dependent system with depth-sensors to regulate traffic signals. The national capital will have this hi-tech system in place by 2019, which will cost the government Rs. 1,000cr. The Delhi cabinet and LG Anil Baijal have already approved the project, which was lying idle for 10-years.
High-end cameras to give real-time traffic volume to AI software
After the ambitious project, intelligent traffic management system (ITMS), got approved last month, technical consultants were roped in to give it a shape. Traffic police chief Depender Pathak shared that tenders will be floated for the required 7,000-8,000 high-resolution cameras in July. These cameras, to be placed in arterial roads, will calculate real-time traffic volume and feed the data into the AI software.
1,000 LED screens to tell about traffic congestion
The cameras will be equipped with "multidirectional infrared and colorless laser sensors," said Pathak. "Through those, we will see the traffic and also communicate with the drivers while on move or at signals using the PA system," he explained. Apart from the cameras, around 1,000 LED boards will be installed that will display information about traffic congestion, as is done by Google maps.
Dashboard attached to cameras to flag traffic violators
Once this system is in place, traffic officers would mostly be confined to control rooms monitoring cameras. A few personnel may be deployed for emergency purposes. Even issuance of challans may be done through a dashboard that will be linked to the cameras. Delhi Police has requested the transport ministry to allow embedding Delhi-registered cars with sensory chips that'll facilitate the challan system.
US, Canada have this system; Delhi to use advanced version
Experts said US and Canada already have the sensor system, but Delhi would use an advanced version. "AI-based ITMS is expensive but it's the need of the hour. However, it cannot be a success without people learning and following rules," said ex-cop Maxwell Pereira.
