Every American visitor to India feels the impact of traffic congestion inside cities and at toll crossings.
With the massive expansion under Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari, India now boasts the world’s second-largest road network, spanning nearly 4 million miles and featuring over a thousand tollbooths, many of which are operated manually. Traditional manual tollbooths contribute significantly to traffic delays, extended commute times, and road congestion. To address these issues, Calsoft, an American technology company headquartered in San Jose, CA, has implemented NVIDIA technologies integrated with India’s unified payments interface (UPI) to automate tollbooths across the country.
The Challenge:
Automating India’s toll systems faces a unique challenge due to the diverse range of license plates. Unlike standardized plates in many countries, India’s plates vary in color, size, font style, placement, and language. This diversity poses a significant hurdle for automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) systems, requiring a solution that can accurately read and process these varied plates.
The Solution:
Calsoft’s innovative solution automatically reads passing vehicle plates and charges the associated driver’s UPI account, reducing the need for manual toll collection. This approach marks a significant step toward addressing traffic congestion in the region.
Key Features and Performance:
1. Deployment: The solution has been piloted in several leading metropolitan cities.
2. Accuracy: It achieves approximately 95% accuracy in reading plates using an ANPR pipeline for detection and classification.
3. Technology Stack:
– NVIDIA Metropolis: Used for vehicle tracking and detection.
– NVIDIA Triton Inference Server: Employed for AI model deployment and management.
Benefits and Impact:
1. Reduced Manual Labor: Automation significantly decreases the need for manual toll collection.
2. Improved Traffic Flow: By streamlining the toll collection process, the solution helps reduce congestion and commute times.
3. Scalability: The system is designed to accommodate future growth and expansion, ensuring sustained performance as traffic conditions evolve.
Broader Applications:
NVIDIA Metropolis, a key component of this solution, has also been used in other municipalities worldwide, such as Raleigh, North Carolina, to better manage traffic flow and enhance pedestrian safety.
The collaboration between Calsoft and NVIDIA demonstrates the potential of AI and advanced computing technologies to address complex infrastructure challenges. As the system continues to be refined and expanded, it has the potential to significantly improve the driving experience for millions of Indians while setting a precedent for similar implementations in other countries facing comparable challenges.
