Convergence of AI, research and collaboration is a force-multiplier for road safety

Our mission of advancing road safety through technology to ensure no lives are lost on roads due to accidents, scaled new heights with the recently-held Safety Pioneers Conference. This platform, inaugurated by honorable Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways, Shri Nitin Gadkari, brought together 70+ leading organizations, and a host of leaders and experts across the smart mobility ecosystem such as technology and transportation providers, vehicle makers, academia, and government to collaborate, develop and roll out solutions to address road safety-related challenges.?It marked an important milestone in our mission of road safety that we have been driving for the last 4-5 years.

The platform unequivocally reaffirmed our belief that the convergence of technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI), research, and collaboration can create a compounding impact towards solving road accidents and fatalities.?

A critical societal challenge that technology can solve?

Road safety is the need of the hour for our country given that India today has one of the highest rates of traffic accidents in the world – accounting for nearly 11 percent of all road fatalities in the world with just 1 percent of vehicles. There are 17 deaths every hour on Indian roads.?And, most of the victims are young and primary bread earners for their families. Our firm belief is that technology is the most affordable way to solve this pressing societal challenge.

In his inaugural speech, the honorable minister, Shri Gadkari set the direction and reinforced the government’s commitment to Vision Zero. He said, “Road safety is a topmost priority of the Indian government, and our vision is to reduce road accidents by 50 percent by 2024.” He added, “We strongly believe that the implementation of technology will help us achieve our goal of reducing road accidents, enhancing road safety in India and saving the lives of the people. We acknowledge that this requires a deep collaborative approach with the industry and ecosystem to make this effort successful and we are deeply committed to the cause.”

Long-standing commitment to road safety

The Minister’s vision clearly resonates with us. The power of technologies like AI and collaboration have been fueling our mission.?Some of the key initiatives:

• India Driving Dataset, world’s first open dataset of driving conditions in India
• Creation of INAI, an applied AI research center with the aim of using AI to reduce road accidents and fatalities in the country
• Formation and implementation of Project iRASTE (intelligent Solutions for Road Safety through Technology and Engineering) in Nagpur city and national highways in Telangana

The commitment has been deep and long-standing with very encouraging outcomes.?Key highlights:?

• Today, we have 3 million kilometers of data from India and multiple more million kilometers in our testing phase.?
• Through our various pilots and implementations, we have seen almost 70% improvement in safe driving practices and a 40% to 60% reduction in accidents.?
• As part of Project iRASTE in Nagpur city, we found 1 grey spot (where accident didn’t happen before, but, is likely to happen in future) in every 50 kms; that can be avoided with CAS/ADAS (collision avoidance system/advanced driver assistance system) based solutions.
• Our collective goal is to create a blueprint to Vision Zero for India.?

Intel’s Onboard Fleet Services help advance road safety and operational efficiency for commercial fleets

Advancing the use of technology for road safety, the Safety Pioneers Conference brought into focus an innovative AI-powered fleet safety solution for commercial vehicles, Intel? Onboard Fleet Services . As a first-of-its-kind initiative, this comprehensive solution brings world-class and road-tested technology, exclusively designed for Indian conditions. It offers Collision Avoidance Systems (CAS), Driver Monitoring Systems, fleet telematics, fleet health, and fuel efficiency features.

Powered by a portfolio of in-cabin devices, Intel? Onboard Fleet Services has a state-of-the-art cloud portal that includes actionable insights, analytics, and reports for fleet managers.?At the heart of the solution is driver coaching, which activates 15 different inputs to provide individualized coaching recommendation for commercial fleets, who lose up to 25 workdays per accident involved.

The solution is already deployed by 16 customers like Sure Group Logistics, Sankyu India Logistics, Allanasons across sectors such as HAZMAT, Cold Chain, Third-Party Logistics (3PL) and Employee Transport and it indicates that this technology can reduce the probability of accidents by 40 - 60 percent and estimates that overall efficiency losses can be reduced by up to 50 percent.?

The march towards accomplishing our mission of `no lives are lost on roads due to accidents’ with the use of population-scale technologies like AI and through cutting-edge research and innovation just got another shot in its arm. We stay committed and forge ahead with conviction, collaboration and technology to enrich humanity by enabling smarter and safer vehicles, roads and drivers.

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