AI-enabled panic buttons will be available on public buses in Tamil Nadu

The state transport department plans to provide this facility to about 2,500 buses under the Nirvana Safe City project and in the first phase, four panic buttons, AI-enabled mobile network video recorder (MNVR) and three cameras each on 500 buses in the metro city respectively.

The MNVR will be connected to a cloud-based control center via a 4G GSM SIM card. In case of any inconvenience, discomfort or threat caused by the passengers during the journey, female passengers can press the panic button to record the incident.

While doing this, an alarm (bell) will be sounded at the control center along with video recording of the incident on the bus. With the help of this alarm, the control center operator will monitor the situation and in real time, facilitate the next step.

The control center has been linked to the City Police and the Greater Chennai Corporation’s Distress Response Center. A statement from the state government said that about 31 bus depots and 35 bus terminals of the Metropolitan Transport Corporation (MTC) have come under surveillance.

The project will assist in the identification of missing persons and the identification of criminals and other activities of the GCC, the Department of Transportation and the police.

The Chief Minister, who inaugurated the security initiatives in the presence of Transport Minister SS Shivasankar at the State Secretariat here, also ordered the recruitment of about 200 persons recruited by the Transport Department on compassionate basis.