Kanyakumari district police have unveiled 'Kaaval AI,' an innovative, in-house traffic monitoring system that leverages artificial intelligence to display real-time vehicle violations on LED screens, aiming to enhance enforcement and public awareness.
Cost-Effective Alternative to ANPR
The system represents an upgrade over existing Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) cameras by incorporating LED displays that show the registration numbers of violating vehicles at traffic signals. District Superintendent of Police R Stalin inaugurated the initiative on Tuesday at the roundabout near the district collectorate in Nagercoil. Developed in collaboration with students from Rajalakshmi Engineering College, Chennai, the system is designed to be cost-effective, with each unit costing significantly less than traditional ANPR cameras, which can run up to ₹40,000 per piece.
How It Works
Speaking to TOI, Stalin explained that the new system captures traffic violations using AI technology, monitored by a dedicated police team via a mobile app. Police officers will scrutinize violations and issue challans manually. Future upgrades aim to detect offenses such as overspeeding, not wearing a seatbelt, and rash driving, with plans to automate challan issuance.
The system was developed by a team of four students guided by two mentors from the college's School of Computer Science. Student Sajiv B I noted that the system can integrate with any type of CCTV camera, unlike existing ANPR technology that requires specialized cameras. 'We used pretrained models for vehicle detection, identifying violations, and extracting vehicle numbers,' he said.
Origin and Future Plans
The idea was initially proposed during the 'Kaval Hackathon,' a competition organized by Kanyakumari district police in January. The successful implementation marks a step forward in leveraging technology for traffic management and road safety.
