From Wrong-Way Driving to Mobile Phones: How AI Will Now Catch Traffic Violations in Delhi

The Union Cabinet approved the Intelligent Traffic Management System (ITMS) project on Wednesday. The new ITMS project was proposed by the Delhi Police to deploy AI-powered systems on the roads of the Union Territory. The authorities will deploy the new real-time traffic management system on 42 traffic corridors to make traffic movement more efficient. The new traffic management system will also help in creating green corridors for emergency vehicles, prioritising their movement. As part of the project, the Delhi Police will also set up adaptive sign boards to inform and alert commuters in real time.

Cabinet Green Lights ITMS Project With a Budgetary Outlay of Rs.1,789.52 Crore

In a press release on Wednesday, the government announced that the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA), with Prime Minister Narendra Modi as its chairman, has approved Delhi Police's ITMS project. The government also approved Rs. 1,789.52 crore for the new traffic management system. Under the ITMS project, the Delhi Police will deploy AI-powered Adaptive Traffic Signals on the Union Territory's roads. It will cover 42 identified traffic corridors.

As part of the ITMS project, Delhi Police will deploy 1,092 Adaptive Traffic Control Systems across 1,029 enforcement locations. The project will be implemented via a Master System Integrator. The Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC), under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), will provide technical support.

Further, ITMS will prioritise the movement of Ambulances and other emergency vehicles and create green corridors for their movement. The new AI-enabled Adaptive Traffic Control Systems will dynamically adjust signal timings based on current traffic conditions. The systems will also coordinate signals along identified corridors to reduce stoppages and delays.

Variable Message Sign boards and digital platforms will provide real-time information to commuters about congestion, diversions, parking availability, and traffic conditions. Delhi Police is also considering sharing this information with navigation service providers like Google Maps.

The ITMS project will be implemented in three phases over 24 months. Following its implementation, the project will be operated and maintained for the next five years. With ITMS, the Delhi Police aims to ensure the smooth management of vehicular traffic. With about 71 lakh active registered vehicles in Delhi and traffic from neighbouring states, ITMS is claimed to help with better utilisation of the available road capacity in the Union Territory, while allowing traffic management to “respond dynamically to actual conditions on the roads”.

Moreover, a common platform will be set up as part of the ITMS project to bring together traffic regulation, enforcement, and information dissemination via Traffic Command and Control Centres, along with Data Centre and Disaster Recovery infrastructure. “The system will follow open standards and APIs to enable future integration and scalability,” the press release highlighted.