Potholes to poor lighting: AI Dashcams to detect 30 types of highway defects | India News

New Delhi: The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) will deploy AI-powered Dashcam Analysis Service (DAS) on nearly 40,000 km of the NH network under operation and maintenance contracts. The decision came amid complaints from commuters against ride quality and road conditions.For effective monitoring, NHAI has divided the country into five zones and awarded contracts for two years.This week, the highways ministry informed the Rajya Sabha that the number of public complaints on the quality of highway construction and condition of the NH’s riding surface has increased by 60% this year compared to last year. As of March 12, such complaints have increased from 7,030 to 11,340 in 2024-25. The ministry also said that 9,977 complaints were resolved this year.An NHAI official said that dashcams will be installed in every highway patrol vehicle and these will record all details including 30 types of defects and anomalies on the highway. The primary focus will be on pavement conditions, including problems such as potholes, cracks, fissures, and surface erosion, faded lane markings, damaged crash barriers, and non-functional street lights.“The recordings will be fed into a specialized IT platform that features dedicated modules for data management and AI analytics. It will generate reports within a day and identify errors. Based on this, instructions will be issued to concerned agencies and officials to resolve the issues,” said an official.The system will also identify other safety concerns including illegal median openings, unauthorized signage, encroachment and illegal parking.

Surveys will be conducted at least once a week, with night inspections at least once a month to assess the performance of road signs, pavement markings, road studs and highway lighting. It will also cover critical issues such as water stagnation, missing drainage cover, vegetation growth and the condition of bass bays.