Microsoft To Deploy A Smartphone-Based System For Driving License Tests In Dehradun

Microsoft is working with the Dehradun’s Regional Transport Office to deploy a system for driving license tests based on smartphones. The company calls it HAMS (short for Harnessing AutoMobiles for Safety), and it makes use of AI to monitor the way the driver drives.

To use the system, first, the driver must attach a smartphone to the dashboard of the car. The AI will then check the position of the camera and then ask the driver to start the test.

During the test, the AI will evaluate the driver’s skills by analyzing the trajectory of the vehicle, driver’s gaze, and distance to other objects using cameras on the front and the rear of the vehicle.

This system is developed by Microsoft and IDTR (Institute of Driving and Traffic Research). The AI is then trained with some specific maneuvers such as going around a roundabout or parallel parking.

According to Venkat Padmanabhan, Microsoft Research India’s Deputy Managing Director, this smartphone-based system eliminates the need for a human evaluator. He said that traditional driving tests rely heavily on the subjectivity opinion of the human evaluator. This system will lift the burden off the shoulders of these evaluators and offer candidates a more transparent results. Padmanabhan is the one who started the project in 2016.

Microsoft’s senior research Akshay Nambi said that more than 50 people were taking the driving tests with the help of this system every day in Dehardun. If the candidates have any doubt with the results, they have the aid of some other cameras along the track.

A smartphone-based driving license test software will help us avoid mishaps like the moderators do not pay attention to the one who is driving, or someone else appears and the takes the test for the applicant. It also reduces the reliance on humans.