I want to fix Bengaluru’s traffic, says EaseMyTrip’s Prashant Pitti; commits Rs 1 crore to map choke points

EaseMyTrip cofounder Prashant Pitti announced a Rs 1 crore investment towards an artificial intelligence-powered traffic tracking system, in Bengaluru, on Monday.

In a LinkedIn post, Pitti shared his personal experience of being stuck on Bengaluru’s Outer Ring Road (ORR) for more than two hours on a Saturday, leading to this initiative.

“I was stuck at one choke-point at ORR, where I spent 100 mins struggling to understand why there is no traffic-light or cop here,” he said.


“I am committing INR 1 Cr to find Bangalore Choke-Points via Google Maps & AI. I don’t want one more “Bengaluru Traffic Memes or Rant”. I WANT TO FIX IT,” he added.

Investments in place

The funding will allow the launch of an open-source, public-interest AI initiative to identify and map Bangalore’s worst traffic choke points.

The budget includes hiring 1-2 senior ML (Machine Learning)/AI (Artificial Intelligence) engineers, advanced technology, graphic processing unit (GPUs), field pilots, satellite imagery etc. to list all choke points and their exact timings in a month.

Tech behind this

On April 9, Google Maps introduced geospatial analytics on its platform enabling roads management insights that help public sector and road authorities analyse traffic data and improve roads with historical and real-time traffic information.

For example, traffic authorities can use the insights to identify accident-prone areas and add safety measures such as speed bumps or stop signs. They can also build models that forecast traffic conditions to mitigate congestion before it even occurs.

The implementation

Pitti said he will implement this project after the Bengaluru traffic police or Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike provide access to their application programming interface (API) and assign a dedicated team to the project.

He urged citizens to tag the concerned authorities in the Bengaluru traffic department, and ML/AI professionals to carry forward the initiative.