With the wake of COVID-19, goods and passenger transport services are relying highly on AI cum CCTV cameras for social distance monitoring and mask detection among workers to prevent the spread of infection in various locations which had a surge in infections after the phased unlocks.
An intercity bus transporter, Yolobus offers its bus facilities for distances having to travel for 8 to 12 hours. It also uses CCTV cameras for mask detection, along with sanitizing its buses constantly. Co-founder and CEO Yolobus, Shailesh Gupta, added, “CCTVs are properly used in buses to track the usage of masks by all the passengers and bus crew. In addition, the bus crew also ensures that all the passengers have their masks on. In fact, Yolobus offers masks for free after resuming services on half of its routes.
In addition, Spoton Logistics, a cargo transporter, is also installing a mask detection and social distance monitoring software in its surveillance cameras to ensure that their workers maintain social distancing and wear masks at its loading/unloading sites. MD and CEO, Spoton Logistics, Abhik Mitra added that they are loading algorithms and visual analytics in more than 300 sites to ensure social distancing 24×7. Along with giving thermometers and sanitizers to the staff, Spoton also enables its loading/unloading locations with pulse oximeters. Company has also hired more local workers as some migrant workers hadn’t managed to come back.
One of the world’s largest cab service operators, Uber Technologies also uses AI across the world to ensure that its drivers are wearing masks, along with calling for their selfie. Drivers have to do that to verify their masks. They are also implanting plastic screens to ensure safety of both passengers and drivers. This way, they have covered over 20,000 taxis and 100,000 auto rickshaws with plastic screens.
Railway stations have also installed CCTV cameras with AI for mask detection, temperature scanning and social distance monitoring. Being the proud partner of Indian Railways, Vehant Technologies has deployed AI-based programs to detect masks and temperature with CCTV cameras. This AI-cum CCTV software records temperatures, social distancing and detects masks in real time. Kapil Bardeja, CEO and Co-founder of Vehant Technologies has said that they have installed such cameras in some of the prominent railway stations like Bilaspur, Raipur and Guwahati. According to him, CCTV cameras with mask detection and temperature scanning will be installed in over 10,000 sites across India, out of which around 35% are bus terminals, airports, and railway stations.
Along with Indian Railways, Chennai Metro has also resumed its operations on September 7, 2020 serving a total of 5033 passengers. After around 5 months of shutdown due to COVID-19, the service resumed yesterday. It received around 10 times lower traffic than the daily average before the pandemic. According to the CMRL officials, the traffic will grow within a few days.
Out of those passengers, a total of 4869 passengers used Smart Cards and 164 passengers used QR code to travel in the metro train. Passengers can also download CMRL mobile apps to avoid queues by using QR code for buying tickets. The service started from Chennai Airport to Washermenpet at 7 am. It will open the service from Chennai Central to St. Thomas Mount from September 7.
The service will be available every 5 minutes in peak hours and every 10 minutes in non-peak hours. The train took a halt of 50 seconds instead of 20 seconds for proper ventilation in every station and to allow every passenger to board the train. QR code, contactless ticketing, travel card reader, etc. are some of the SOP in stations to avoid crowds. In addition, the whole train is sanitized well and passengers are provided with social distanced seating.
What other countries are doing to control the effect of pandemic?
A lot of countries across the world are using mask detection cameras in public spaces. For example, France has installed AI-based CCTVs to ensure people are wearing masks in metro stations and buses. However, there has been a concern of privacy with some algorithms having facial detection.
In fact, Apple has been approached by New York based mass transport authority urging to upgrade its AI-based facial recognition technology in iPhone to help people to unlock their devices without removing their masks in buses and trains.
