NHAI plans to induct patrol vehicles with dashboard cameras, AI video analytics

These vehicles, to be called ‘Rajmarg Saathi’, will capture and identify cracks and potholes as well as other elements

NEW DELHI: The National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) on Friday said it plans to replace the existing thousand-odd highway patrol cars with new Route Patrolling Vehicles that will be equipped with dashboard cameras and ‘AI video analytics’ systems.

Gurugram: The National Highway-48 near the cloverleaf interchange on September 20, 2024. (HT FILE PHOTO/Parveen Kumar)

These vehicles, to be called ‘Rajmarg Saathi’, will capture and identify cracks and potholes as well as other elements including vehicles, pedestrians, road signs, and other infrastructure assets, a Press release issued by NHAI on Friday said.

The data collected through these new vehicles would be collected every week and uploaded on the ministry’s information technology system, it added.

The statement also said the uniform of the patrol personnel had also been redesigned to include a bright blue colour along with a jacket with reflective stripes and NHAI logos for easy identification.

To increase their responsiveness to emergency situations, these vehicles will have a closed cabinet with dedicated space for different equipment and inventory, the statement said. Currently, equipment is kept in the open trunk in an unorganised manner.

Friday’s announcement comes a week after NHAI announced that private contractors engaged in building and maintaining national highways across India will be subjected to a performance-based rating system.

According to this system, contractors scoring less than 70 out of 100 would be declared ‘non-performers’, and become ineligible to secure new highway projects till they improve. The rating will be updated every six months at two levels, first at an individual project level and second at the concessionaire level and will be made available in the NHAI website and social media platforms.

This rating system formulated by NHAI will be mostly based on the pavement condition index (80%) and the remaining 20% on defect rectification compliance on NHAI One App where over 95 types of defects will be notified and monitored digitally.

The pavement condition index, a metric in the road construction industry, will be calculated based on six functional parameters -- roughness, potholes, cracking, ravelling, rut depth and patchwork -- which will be calculated using various technological solutions such as laser crack measurement systems in network survey vehicles.