Highway police use a drone on Feb. 1, 2019, in cooperation with the state-run Korea Expressway Corp., to crack down on violations of traffic regulations that might occur. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, June 27 (Korea Bizwire) — Seoul is set to deploy drones at an altitude of 230 meters to effectively monitor and manage real-time traffic conditions.
The city government on Monday announced its plans to establish a ‘traffic management system utilizing drones’ by September.
This system will integrate the data captured by drones with existing Transport Operation & Information Service (TOPIS), enabling analysis of pertinent traffic data for efficient management.
The city has already developed an artificial intelligence (AI)-powered drone video analysis system and aims to implement a monitoring system for real-time traffic management in the latter half of this year.
With the introduction of this system, comprehensive drone-based traffic monitoring will be operational in the second half of the year.
Until now, traffic conditions could only be assessed on a point-by-point basis using fixed CCTV cameras.
However, the future holds the potential to grasp the overall traffic flow by automatically collecting and analyzing high-quality drone images taken from an altitude of 230 meters.
This advancement will not only aid in alleviating congestion issues and enhancing road communication but also allow for tailored traffic measures specific to each region.
Significantly, the system will prove invaluable in managing real-time traffic situations during large cultural events, marathons, and rallies, providing a swift response system.
Moreover, the utilization of AI video analysis will facilitate the acquisition of traffic-related data that was previously challenging to gather.
By calculating factors such as traffic volume, speed, and queue length, the city believes this information can enhance the traffic operation system, including tracking individual vehicle movements.
Kevin Lee (kevinlee@koreabizwire.com)
