Transport ministry approves UP's AI-based project to improve road safety

The Centre has approved an AI-based pilot project for the Uttar Pradesh Transport Department to reduce road accidents and improve enforcement efficiency, officials said on Tuesday.

The Union Ministry of Road Transport & Highways (MoRTH) on Monday issued a formal No Objection for the UP Transport Department's Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Big Data Analytics based Road Safety Pilot Project.

This is the first AI-driven road safety experiment ever undertaken by a state transport department in India. The pilot project will be implemented at zero cost by the public sector enterprise ITI Limited in partnership with global technology firm mLogica, according to a statement issued by the Uttar Pradesh government.


The state government has already earmarked Rs 10 crore in its 2025-26 Budget to establish a "data-driven administrative model" for the Transport Department, it noted.

Initial prototype of the model, scheduled for six weeks, will integrate multi-source data accident records, weather feeds, vehicle telematics, driver profiles and roadway attributes to build AI models that pinpoint root causes of accidents, forecast black spots and generate realtime policy dashboards.

Upon completion, the AI engine will be rolled out in a phased manner across all core functions of the Transport Department, including faceless licensing and permits, modernised enforcement, revenue collection, e-challan operations and the 'Vahan Sarathi' registries.

A comprehensive outcome report will be submitted to the MoRTH at the end of the pilot project, while legal compliance, data privacy and cybersecurity standards will be continuously audited, the statement added.

The ministry also asserted that the initiative must fully comply with the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, the Central Motor Vehicles Rules, 1989 and all road safety standard operating procedures (SOPs) and it will entail no financial liability for the MoRTH.

Building on the evidence generated during the testing phase, the AI will be embedded into other digital assets. The project will integrate the engine with the paperless licensing and permit mechanism, allowing systems to run on self-learning decision models, statement added.

Concurrently, the enforcement wing will deploy realtime fraud detection, vehicle positioning and predictive policing based on propensity to violate traffic laws, giving field officers data-backed alarms for on-the-spot action.

By fusing these data-sets, the department will gain a virtual dashboard covering income flows, infractions and credential status thus sharpening policy design, according to the statement.

Transport Commissioner Brajesh Narain Singh stated, "This initiative will place Uttar Pradesh at the fore front of data-driven governance. By integrating the AI model beyond road safety into every core function of the department, we aim to make our state a national trail blazer in technological innovation."

The ITI limited and mLogica team have been authorised to begin work immediately in coordination with the department, the statement noted. PTI