Bengaluru Gets Much-Awaited ASTraM App and Traffic Police Museum

The city traffic department, on Wednesday, inaugurated the Traffic Police Museum and Experience Centre at the Traffic Management Centre on Infantry Road in Bengaluru. The initiative aims to educate students, researchers, traffic enthusiasts, and professionals about the advancements in traffic management.

The museum’s Experience Centre highlights technological advancements in traffic policing and road safety. It features exhibits of AI-based signalling and digital enforcement mechanisms. 

This facility, inaugurated by Karnataka’s home minister, G Parameshwara, is dedicated to chronicling the history and evolution of traffic management in the city. The museum’s collection includes vintage traffic equipment, uniforms, historical photographs, documents, and interactive displays focused on traffic safety and regulations.

ASTraM for Commuters

In conjunction with the museum’s opening, the Bengaluru Traffic Police launched the ASTraM (actionable intelligence for sustainable traffic management) app, designed to be a comprehensive solution for commuters. The app offers real-time traffic updates, allows users to report accidents and violations, and provides an option to pay traffic fines online. 

By integrating these features, ASTraM seeks to make commuters active participants in the city’s traffic management ecosystem, promoting greater participation and accountability.

A coffee-table book titled Traffic Guardians of the Garden City was also unveiled at the event. It captures Bengaluru’s journey from its inception to its current status as a technology-driven metropolis focused on road safety. 

Bengaluru has continuously been at the forefront of adopting the latest technology, including AI-based solutions for managing Bengaluru traffic. 

In a past interaction with AIM, MN Anucheth, JCP for Traffic, Bengaluru, spoke about the city’s continued efforts on the tech front. “Since Bengaluru is the tech capital of India and a lot of AI-based startups are based in the city, we have been lucky enough to be able to work with a lot of them,” he said. 

With 9,000 cameras deployed across the city for crime prevention and law and order maintenance, the team is considering using these safety cameras to create an AI engine for violation detection, traffic management, and traffic counting. 

Bengaluru Traffic Police is also integrating AI for real-time traffic management using a proprietary tool developed by C-DAC. Anucheth highlighted that AI in traffic requires instantaneous decision-making rather than predictive analysis. 

The department collaborates with startups to enhance traffic solutions, incorporating drone technology, AI avatars, and platforms like ASTraM, which leverages big data for live traffic tracking and enforcement. These partnerships play a crucial role in scaling AI-driven traffic management across the city.