Ankara Metropolitan Municipality, with the collaboration of HAVELSAN , a Turkish software company, is on its way to introducing smart public transportation to ease the problem of heavy traffic jams and will ensure the security of the public by monitoring the number of passengers on the buses using image processing techniques. This will also determine the arrangement of vehicles on the lines according to the density.

In addition, this smart system will monitor passengers’ behaviors, such as fastening seat belts or talking on mobile phones, will be reported to the center as an alarm to ensure passenger safety.

Defects, potholes, and bumps on the roads will also be recognized and forwarded to the appropriate units as part of the "Smart Transportation Project" run by HAVELSAN and the Ankara Metropolitan Municipality.

With the "Smart Transportation Project," an image processing technique will offer a more comfortable and safe public transportation service.

Büşra Özbay Başeski, a product manager for the Eyeminer (Smart Box of the City) artificial intelligence-based video analysis system and a HAVELSAN field-based software specialist, told Anadolu Agency (AA) on Wednesday that they have implemented very different image processing applications and developed various solutions to meet the demands of military and security forces.

She also said that they can identify the company and model information of the vehicles and can detect the information of people other than vehicles, and within this scope, they could perform behavioral analysis. The project facilitates the number plate recognition systems developed and used by the security forces with a high success rate. Stating that they have taken action to use the knowledge and experience in image processing techniques at this point, Başeski gave the following information about their cooperation with Ankara Metropolitan Municipality and Directorate General of Ankara Electricity, Gas and Bus Operations Organization (EGO).

"We kept thinking about these projects to facilitate the security forces and to make use of the image processing technology. Eventually, we came up with the idea of a smart transportation project.

By using a density analysis in public transportation, smart public transportation will make it possible to decide how to arrange bus lines and increase or decrease the number of buses and stops. Additionally, we hope to alert the center through the driver safety analysis of behaviors that endanger passenger safety, such as whether the driver is using a seat belt or not, as an alarm, to provide more comfortable and secure services. And the existing infrastructure on buses will be used.

Stressing that they signed a contract for the project about a month ago, and the system will be used in the next three-four months.

Başeski further added we have not installed any specialized cameras in the buses, which is one of the most crucial points. Noting that the current infrastructure will centrally monitor all bus camera images. We perform the video analysis process at the center. In this way, we provide more cost-effective services. Since we use the cameras that are already in the buses, we do not use a camera with extra features and our system works independently of brand and model; you can replace a broken camera with an equivalent product."

Büşra Özbay Başeski said that with image processing techniques, the defects, potholes and bumps on the roads will also be detected and sent to the relevant units and the repair will be ensured.

"It will be the first initiative that other municipalities will follow," Başeski emphasized. This will improve both the quality of the services offered to the public and the safety of other cars. "Right now, we have a bus that is always traveling with a camera on it. For this, we make the most of the available options with no additional expenses Ankara, in Türkiye, will serve as the country's first example of smart transportation.

We also have different studies with other municipalities on video analytics, we signed an agreement with Gaziantep Municipality and we are planning to continue those, she added.