The Motor Vehicles Department (MVD) in Kerala is now employing advanced technology with a new technique to ensure that traffic rule offenders do not go scot free. The department is planning to advance their speed detection cameras by equipping them with Artificial Intelligence (AI) to detect two wheelers riding without a helmet and four wheel vehicles in which the driver is not wearing a seat belt.

It was recently that Roshy John, Global Head for Robotics and Cognitive Systems at Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), submitted a memorandum to Kerala Chief Minister, Pinarayi Vijayan demanding a separate ministry exclusively for AI in the state. AI is a where intelligent machines are taught to act or react or do functions the way humans would, enabling them to perform complex human actions such as visual perception, speech recognition and decision-making.

Speaking to TNM, Joint Transport Commissioner Rajeev Puthalath said that AI has already been installed in many of the cameras in Walayar, Wadakkanchery and Kozhikode. “The cameras have so far been used only to detect over-speeding vehicles and not the number plates of those vehicles. But now, with the help of AI, along with detecting two wheeler drivers without a helmet and four wheeler drivers without wearing a seat belt, it will also provide us the vehicle records and the average speed of the vehicle,” he said.

The MVD had handed over the tender of this project to the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (CDAC), which had done a trial run with AI installed in the cameras in Thiruvananthapuram during which it was found to be 98% accurate, Rajeev added.

The software will be introduced soon in all the cameras across the state. According to Rajeev, one of the reasons behind this project is also to reduce manual checking by the officials. “The process that will be followed if a driver is caught violating the rules is same as before. A challan will be sent to the home of the driver,” he explained.