Artificial intelligence being used to check Dubai taxi drivers & passengers are wearing face masks

Dubai’s Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) have announced the use of artificial intelligence techniques to limit the spread of COVID-19 in taxis.

The RTA announced the success of the model employing artificial intelligence technologies - represented by machine learning algorithms and computer vision - to monitor violations of preventive measures to reduce the spread of the coronavirus emerging (COVID-19) such as physical spacing and wearing masks inside taxis, either for passengers or drivers.

Ahmed Mahboub, Director of the Smart Services Executive Department in the Institutional Technical Support Services Sector at the Authority, said: “Artificial intelligence techniques have been employed to monitor the extent of compliance with the procedures to prevent the spread of the new Corona virus and monitor violations, in addition to the number of passengers allowed per trip, where these technologies were applied.“

Mahboub confirmed that the techniques of artificial intelligence have proven effective and its success is 100%. He added: “The experiment showed that the techniques of artificial intelligence are able to handle and process video files whose content is approximately 200 thousand hours per day. This reduces the need for human intervention and save time and effort to analyse these videos.

”Two models of artificial intelligence have been programmed to identify and detect faces in video files and detect the muzzle is correct, in addition to a mathematical model to calculate the distance between passengers and the driver.” Mahboub emphasised that the Roads and Transport Authority continues its efforts to be proactive in the fields of the Fourth Industrial Revolution in line with the Emirates artificial intelligence strategy to harness these technologies to serve the community and achieve the authority's vision of "safe and easy transportation for all".

Image credit: Dubai RTA