TGSRTC plans to install AI-powered alert ‘ADAS’ in buses

RTC’s pilot project helped reduce accidents up to 40 pc

Hyderabad: With the Advanced Driver Assistance System (ADAS) devices providing positive results in reducing accidents, the Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (TGSRTC) is planning to install the concept in its buses on a large scale. This Artificial Intelligence-powered alert system installed in about 200 state transport buses as part of a pilot project has helped in reducing accidents on highways up to 40 per cent in the last one year.

As a proactive measure to reduce road accidents on highways, the system was installed as a pilot project in buses plying on three national highways in the state, Hyderabad-Bengaluru, Hyderabad-Vijaywada and Hyderabad-Nagpur, in September 2022.It is learnt that the number of fatal road accidents, between March 2023 and April 2024, involving state transport buses on the selected highway corridors across the state was 40 per cent lower in buses which had ADAS devices when compared to non-ADAS buses.

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Intelligent Solution for Road Safety Through Technology and Engineering (iRASTE), is a collaboration between the Centre, INAI, an Applied AI Research Centre at the International Institute of Information Technology, Hyderabad, the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research-Central Road Research Institute (CSIR-CRRI), Intel, and the Telangana government.

Spearheaded by INAI — a joint initiative of IIIT-Hyderabad, Telangana government, and Intel — the project focuses on using AI to address road safety and mobility, and healthcare challenges.With the aim of reducing accidents in India, the group has been conducting small pilot studies of ADAS technology by Mobileye (an Intel company) where a camera mounted on the windshield of a vehicle scans the entire road ahead and uses complex algorithms to track potential risks to safety. If the system detects a potential risk of collision, it gives an audio as well as visual warning to the driver.

For instance, if the driver gets too close to the vehicle ahead, the warning alerts him so that he can slow down and maintain a safe following distance. A similar warning is sounded in case of a risk of colliding with pedestrians, cyclists or even stray animals. In the event of veering away from your designated lane without signaling, the system also provides an alert to prevent unintentional drifting into the wrong lane.It is learnt that a final report of the study is yet to be out. Following the approval from the central and state government, tenders may be floated for installation of ADAS devices across the TGSRTC bus fleet.