KP runs 1st AI trial on Bypass to manage traffic flow
Times of India | 22 October 2024
Kolkata: The Kolkata Traffic police has set the ball rolling to switch to an ambitious but advanced Artificial Intelligence (AI) based real-time traffic management system that will use algorithms to calculate the queue time and change signal timings accordingly.
In a first, the traffic police ran a small-period trial project at Patuli crossing on EM Bypass in this regard.However, cops on Monday said fine tuning would continue and a longer duration of trials was expected in the coming months. Cops made no comment on the day’s trials, though. Sources in the police said they were in touch with two reputed companies to introduce this advanced AI-based traffic system in the city and presentations in this regard had already begun at Lalbazar. ‘The results have been encouraging thus far,” the source said, adding that both the companies have been asked to install a server at Lalbazar traffic control room and provide live demonstrations during morning as well as night hours.
The development comes almost two years after cops have sought presentations from various tech firms that can provide them multiple advanced features in their traffic management system software.
The cops are ideally looking for a software, claimed top Lalbazar sources, that could send congestion alerts and breakdowns on the Maa-AJC Bose Road flyovers, make accurate congestion prediction at important junctions in the North-South corridor (comprising the SP Mukherjee Road-JL Nehru Road-CR Avenue corridor), automatic camera feed to detect motorists driving while using mobile phones or without seat belt and helmetless riders.
The project, which is being seen worldwide as one of the key traffic problem-solving tools, is already in limited use in Bangalore and Mumbai.
In Kolkata, the central business district has also witnessed the use of AI for crime detection. The city police essentially want to scan images generated by over 3500-4000 CCTV cameras in Kolkata, 125 of which can read the licence plates.