Artificial Intelligence for Better Roads

Hyderabad based premier institution, International Institute of Information Technology (IIIT) is devising high tech solutions for problems faced by common man in the real world. After the rains here, a major issue with the city is the potholes ridden roads which are a  big inconvenience for travellers. To help the government to counter this problem, the IIIt has started work on a project that uses AI algorithms to identify and study the condition of the roads which will help the government to maintain them. IIIT-Hyderabad director Prof PJ Narayanan said that they were working on a project where a car fitted with a few cameras is sent on the roads and the back-end algorithms helps in detecting potholes, water logging or obstructions. These basic facts are not easy to collect, but their device will collect them automatically and help the municipal corporation to conduct work can be done on them. IIIT-Hyderabad professor CV Jawahar, who is leading the project said that the work has been started only a few weeks ago and it may take a couple of months before the institute can come up with a proper proposal to submit to the government. If the project meets with success, it would be the first instance where government used AI to tackle a civic issue and people can look forward to better roads and smoother rides.