Gwangju Nam-gu 추진 'AI Real-Time Road Hazard Information System'

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Park Jin-hyung] Nam-gu, Gwangju Metropolitan City, has been the only local government in the Honam region selected in the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport’s ‘Smart City Innovative Technology Discovery Project’ competition, and is set to establish an AI-based real-time road hazard information system.

On the 11th, Nam-gu announced, “We plan to introduce an ‘AI-based real-time road hazard information service’ that equips city buses, taxis, and district office official vehicles with analytical devices that detect road hazards such as potholes, falling objects, and roadkill in real time, providing visual video data.”

The Smart City Innovative Technology Discovery Project is a program where companies with innovative technologies and local governments form consortia to solve urban problems through these technologies, thereby improving residents’ quality of life.

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport selected 10 local governments nationwide, including Nam-gu, through the competition. Nam-gu plans to invest a total project cost of approximately 1.578 billion KRW, including about 1.28 billion KRW in national funding, to build the system.

The newly introduced AI-based real-time road hazard information system will be implemented by installing AI analytical devices on public transportation and district office official vehicles. These vehicles will transmit various data, including road condition images and location information captured through precision lenses, to an integrated system server within the district office.

This system is equipped with the capability to detect and analyze 12 types of hazard information, and it is understood that there is significant potential to expand additional data collection using this technology.

Initially, the information immediately available upon system completion includes eight types: daytime and nighttime potholes, vertical cracks, horizontal cracks, composite cracks, trash, roadside banners, defective road markings, and defective guiding posts.

Furthermore, to collect road hazard information more extensively, model development is being expanded, and functions to detect unauthorized pedestrians on roads, roadkill, traffic accidents, and construction site traffic cones are expected to be commercialized.

Additionally, it is known that data collection expansion is possible for information on icy roads and black ice, overloaded vehicles, unauthorized vehicles, wanted vehicles, and abandoned smart mobility devices such as electric kickboards.

A Nam-gu official stated, “The information collected by the AI analytical devices will be delivered to each department, which is expected to greatly contribute to reducing complaints through proactive handling of road hazards, lowering social costs such as traffic accidents and vehicle damage, and building infrastructure necessary for autonomous driving.”