To equip state's Automated Driving Test Tracks with latest technology, Punjab Transport Minister S. Laljit Singh Bhullar, on Thursday, visited the Institute of Driving and Traffic Research (IDTR), Dehradun along with the team of the Transport department.After visiting the state-of-the-art facility at IDTR, S. Bhullar said that complying with the directions of the Supreme Court of India, the automated driving test tracks in the state need to be upgraded for further improving and speeding up the license issuing system, aiming to reduce road accidents.
During the meeting with local officials, the Minister was apprised that Microsoft Research India and Maruti Suzuki's Institute of Driving and Traffic Research have jointly developed and tested smartphone based technology 'Harnessing Automobile for Safety (HAMS)' and is being used at the Automated Driving Test Center, Dehradun.Divulging the key features of the technology, the Minister said, human touch-less and sensor-based state-of-the-art technology would be equipped with facial recognition to prevent fraud in identifying candidates, automatic seat belt use detection and traffic signal violations, ability to validate driving correctness for standard maneuvers like S-round about, parallel parking and reverse parking.
Besides this, it would automatically generate test score and outcome and provide video evidence for candidates who wish to review their test.The Minister directed the Secretary Transport Mr. Vikas Garg and State Transport Commissioner Mr. Vimal Kumar Setia to initiate the process of acquiring the technology at the earliest, saying that with no manual assessment, the work would be expedited with this technology as the test will complete and report will generate in just 10 minutes. On the other hand, the test results will be prepared after assessing more minutely than earlier thus enabling to issue licenses to only genuine candidates.