AI to make roads in India safer to drive

Context

The Indian government recently announced that a technology-fueled by AI could reduce the risk of road accidents in the country.

About

About Intelligent Solutions for Road Safety through Technology and Engineering’ (iRASTE) Project:

A project called ‘Intelligent Solutions for Road Safety through Technology and Engineering’ (iRASTE) is being implemented in Nagpur to tackle the problem of road accidents.
The project is based on artificial intelligence (AI) and will help identify potential accident-causing scenarios while driving a vehicle.
iRASTE will alert drivers about the potential accident with the help of the Advance Driver Assistance System (ADAS).
The iRASTE project is being undertaken by the I-Hub Foundation, IIIT Hyderabad, a Technology Innovation Hub (TIH) set up in the technology vertical- Data Banks and Data Services supported by the Department of Science and Technology (DST) under its National Mission on Interdisciplinary Cyber-Physical Systems (NM-ICPS) along with INAI (Applied AI Research Institute).
The project consortium includes CSIR-CRRI, and Nagpur Municipal Corporation, with Mahindra and Intel as the industry partners.
The project (iRASTE) will also identify ‘greyspots’, by data analysis and mobility analysis by continuously monitoring dynamic risks on the entire road network.
The need to identify ‘greyspots’ is of immense importance because if they remain unaddressed, they can become blackspots (locations with fatal accidents).
The system performs continuous monitoring of roads and designs engineering fixes to correct existing road blackspots for preventive maintenance and improved road infrastructure.
The Technology Innovation Hub is working to coordinate, integrate, and amplify basic and applied research in broad data-driven technologies as well as its dissemination and translation across the country.

National Mission on Interdisciplinary Cyber-Physical Systems (NM-ICPS):

The NM-ICPS is a comprehensive Mission which would address technology development, application development, human resource development & skill enhancement, entrepreneurship and start-up development in Cyber Physical System (CPS) and associated technologies.
The Mission aims at establishment of 15 Technology Innovation Hubs (TIH), six Application Innovation Hubs (AIH) and four Technology Translation Research Parks (TTRP).
These Hubs & TTRPs will connect to Academics, Industry, Central Ministries and State Government in developing solutions at reputed academic, R&D and other organizations across the country in a hub and spoke model.