AI can help make our roads safer

The road ahead demands careful calibration — designing artificial intelligence that supports, not supplants, human judgement

- MAMIDALA JAGADESH KUMAR

WE HAVE A full-blown road safety emergency in India. In 2023, nearly 1.73 lakh lives were lost in road accidents. That's 474 people a day, or roughly one in every three minutes. Total accidents crossed 4.8 lakh last year, 4.2% more than in 2023. Two-wheeler riders, especially those without helmets, made up around 44% of the victims, while pedestrians accounted for nearly one-fifth. And the biggest killer was speed. Overspeeding led to over two-thirds of all fatalities. It is a wake-up call. Emerging technologies can help arrest this trend.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is quietly slipping into the passenger seat with an eye on the road. In cities like Pune, public transport systems have begun using smart cameras that track whether drivers are drowsy, distracted, or speeding through signals. They gather data from cameras, steering patterns, brake pressure, and even how often the driver blinks, and then connect the dots to flag risky behaviour. Is the car drifting too frequently? Has the driver been nodding at red lights? That's when alerts kick in, sometimes a gentle beep and at other times a vibrating steering wheel.