In 2018-19, the average waiting time for vehicles at toll plazas was 8 minutes. However, with the introduction of FASTags in 2020-21 and 2021-22, this time was significantly reduced to just 47 seconds.
Traditional toll booths can slow traffic, but automating them presents challenges, particularly with India’s diverse number plates. These plates differ in color, size, font and language, making it difficult for automated systems to read them accurately.
The new system automatically reads license plates and charges drivers through their UPI accounts.
This reduces the need for manual toll collection and helps ease traffic congestion. The technology, which is currently being tested in some metropolitan cities, is said to have achieved around 95% accuracy in reading number plates.
“Night detection was particularly challenging. Another challenge was improving the model’s accuracy in terms of pixel distortions due to environmental impacts such as fog, heavy rain, reflections due to bright sunlight, dusty winds, and more,” said Vipin Shankar, senior vice president of technology at Calsoft.
The system uses NVIDIA Metropolis for tracking, Triton to manage AI models, and DeepStream for real-time data processing.
Powered by NVIDIA Jetson modules and A100 GPUs, the new toll system is designed to handle future growth and changing traffic conditions, making toll collection more efficient on Indian roads.
Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari also announced earlier this year that India is planning to move to GPS-based toll connectivity to improve the toll system in the country.
The new GPS-based toll system will use cameras on highways to read license plates and collect tolls based on the distance traveled by the vehicle. Currently, tolls are collected with FASTags using RFID technology at toll plazas.
In June, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) invited bids from global players to develop the satellite system in India.
“To provide a barrier-free and hassle-free tolling experience to highway users, Indian Highways Management Company Limited (IHMCL), a company promoted by NHAI, has invited global expressions of interest (EOI) from qualified companies for developing and implementing GNSS-based electronic toll collection system in India,” NHAI said in a statement.
Gadkari had earlier said that state-run NHAI’s toll revenue, currently at ₹ 40,000 crore, is projected to rise to ₹ 1.40 lakh crore in the next two to three years.
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