Karachi is a cosmopolitan city with an almost 20 million population, more than any city in Pakistan. The impact of such a significant population can be seen on the roads and in the traffic when the citizens face long traffic jams due to route congestion. RCAI realizes the importance of traffic management and its impact on emergencies that might suffer due to congestion and heavy traffic flow on the route at that point and time. The traffic management system is a project of the RCAI that aims to revolutionize the current traffic control scenario in Karachi. The system is a collection of modules deployed at various single-lane and multi-lane roads in Karachi. The modules do vehicle detection, classification, and number plate detection. The combined data from all the modules provide the user 24/7 information about which routes have traffic congestion, and which alternative paths can be suitable to reach the destination. The benefits of the Traffic Management System are reduction in congestion, fast traveling, efficient consumption of fuel, and less transportation cost.
Citi-pulse is the mega project of RCAI. It is the combination of our projects to make Karachi a smart city by employing advanced AI techniques. Citi-Pulse, as the name suggests, displays the pulse or the current condition of multiple factors in Karachi. The projects featured in Citi-Pulse are categorized in:
- Waste management: The Reverse Vending Machine (RVM) is our latest venture to get rid of plastic waste and make the environment sustainable. Citizens can dump PET bottles in RVMs deployed at various public places and gain rewards by registering themselves in the system.
- Crowd Management & Traffic control: Our traffic management system aims to control the current haphazard traffic condition of Karachi. The set of devices/modules employed at major routes in Karachi will do vehicle detection, classification, and number plate detection and guide the user to the routes with the least congestion and crowd to get to the destination.
- Green Maps: Our green area calculator is a 24/7 active web portal that lets the citizens observe the current green area percentage in their locality. By detecting the changes in landscape and greenery due to urbanization, citizens and government bodies can take suitable actions to make a better quality of life.
- Weather & Traffic Updates: Under Citi-pulse RCAI will deploy weather stations at selected areas in Karachi. A mega portal will show multiple types of maps. The data extracted from the maps will help for visualization and analysis. It will aid in notifying the drivers on roads whether to take that route or not.
Under the umbrella of Citi-Pulse, RCAI aims to achieve many SDG goals of good health and maintenance, industrial and economic growth. Most of the projects in Citi-Pulse are centered towards environmental sustainability in urban areas, including the actions to take against climate change. A project such as Traffic management is focused on sustainable transport and efficient use of maps and sensors. Currently, RCAI is seeking partners and collaborators from different areas to advance these projects further and turn Citi-Pulse into a reality.
