Transport officials from Tamil Nadu visit Kerala to study AI camera system

A team of transport officials from Tamil Nadu visited Kerala on Thursday (July 27) to study the Artificial Intelligence (AI) camera system, which has been instrumental in reducing traffic violations and fatal accidents on the roads in the southern state.

The Tamil Nadu team, led by Joint Transport Commissioner AA Muthu and three other Regional Transport Officers, visited the RTO office and also the state control room of the AI camera system at the Motor Vehicle Department Enforcement office here to understand its functioning, officials said.

Kerala Transport Minister Antony Raju had claimed recently that after the installation of the AI cameras, the fatal accident cases in the state were reduced by half, and traffic violations were reduced by more than 50 percent.

KELTRON (The state-run company that is managing the AI systems) and Motor Vehicles Department officials explained the functioning of the AI system to the Tamil Nadu team, using a PowerPoint presentation.

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“We are here to study the AI camera system installed by the Kerala authorities. We are working to improve the traffic systems in Tamil Nadu, and that is why we are here. We have been told that after the installation of AI cameras, Kerala could considerably reduce accidents and traffic violations. So we are also hoping to replicate it in Tamil Nadu with the permission of the state government,” Muthu told PTI.

He said his team would be submitting a detailed report regarding the traffic surveillance using AI cameras to the Tamil Nadu government.

The MVD authorities said that their Tamil Nadu counterparts were highly impressed by the AI camera system and went through all the details regarding its functioning and coordination.

The officials also witnessed the work carried out by the staff at the Thiruvananthapuram District Control Room, where they checked the images and videos captured by the cameras for violations and, subsequently, how challans are issued to the defaulters.

“The Tamil Nadu team is impressed with the system. They have studied how the system works,” Ajith Kumar, Regional Transport Officer, Enforcement, Kerala, told PTI.

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The Tamil Nadu team will also be visiting some check posts and areas where AI cameras are installed in the state, official sources said.

MVD sources said earlier that a team from Karnataka had also come to study the AI camera system in Kerala, and a minister from the Delhi government who had recently seen the AI system has informed them that transport officials from the national capital region will also be visiting the state soon to study the system.

The other states expressed interest in studying the system despite the protest by the opposition parties in Kerala alleging large-scale corruption and wrongdoings in the installation of Artificial Intelligence (AI) cameras.

(With agency inputs)