Ahmedabad: The Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) is launching an innovative AI-powered dashcam system to improve urban monitoringand civic issue detection. These sophisticated cameras, to be mounted on municipal vehicles, will serve as round-the-clock digital surveillance units throughout the city, scanning the streets for problems that the human eye may miss.

The system will automatically detect and report various urban issues including potholes, malfunctioning streetlights, garbage accumulation, damaged traffic signage and drowsy bus drivers. These roving sentinels will also monitortraffic violationssuch as helmetless riding, illegal billboard installations and parking infractions, while identifying vulnerable citizens sleeping on footpaths. Additionally, the cameras will track areas where construction activities are in progress and even flag stray cattle on roads, sources said.When violations or issues are detected, the system captures 5-10 second video clips or images, which are immediately transmitted to a central control room.

These incidents are automatically geotagged on Google Maps and stored for a seven-day period. The control room will also prepare detailed infographics and provide comprehensive reports. "One will be able to filter the data by time, ward, zone, event type, department and source. The system will also include daily coverage maps and weekly heatmaps," an AMC official said. The initial rollout will have 256GB storage capacity per unit to ensure comprehensive coverage and efficient data management. An AMC official said, "Initially, the implementation will begin with 1,000 dashcams, installed in batches of 250 units each. A repeat order of up to 2,000 additional dashcams will be made after the first phase is successfully implemented." A copy of the proposal inviting bidders for implementing the system states, "The cams will be used to track routes covered by supervisors." It adds that the cameras will be calibrated with AI support to achieve 80% detection accuracy while maintaining a 10% false positive rate. "We have demanded features like night vision and automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) capability," an AMC official said.