Dubai deploys AI robot police for scofflaw cyclists

Riding your bicycle without a helmet in Dubai may soon attract the AI-powered gaze of a robotic policeman. The city is rolling out a facial recognition robot on its streets designed to record traffic violations of bicycle and electric scooter riders.

The robot will roll its wheels on Dubai’s public beach area, linking violators with their United Arab Emirate’s biometric identity cards. Its mission will be to record people who gather on cycle tracks, drive or park their scooters and bicycles in unauthorized areas and take too many of their friends on a ride on the same bike.

The city’s Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) kickstarted a trial of the robot last week, Gulf News reports.

Hamad Alafeefi, RTA’s director of the Enterprise Command and Control Department, said that during the trial period, authorities will not be issuing fines but studying the accuracy and error rate of facial recognition detection.

“The robot comprises of a camera that is monitoring 24-7 with an AI base that will analyze that video imaging,” says Alafeefi. Based on the use cases it’s trained, it will automatically detect send violations to the RTA service, he adds.

The robot is equipped with motion sensors for safe maneuvering while the department is also considering employing different technologies during the second phase of testing.

Article Topics

biometrics  |  digital ID  |  Dubai  |  facial recognition  |  police  |  robots  |  UAE Pass