Roads and Transport Authority – Dubai clinches win at Middle East Technology Excellence Awards

The adoption of AI capabilities led to processes being done entirely digitally.

The Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) – Dubai took home the Smart City - Government category win at the Middle East Technology Excellence Awards 2023 for the successful implementation of its Smart Parking Inspection system.

The Smart Parking Inspection is an AI technology-based system that uses various advanced sensors, ANPR cameras, and software to monitor and inspect vehicles parked in paid parking zones. It is designed to enhance the efficiency and accuracy of inspection processes whilst reducing the need for manual intervention.

The need for this automation comes from how all possible parking fines were previously identified by parking inspectors in the field and checked manually at the car location around Dubai parking control areas. This process posed several challenges in parking enforcement, which included manpower to cover parking expansion, undesirable weather conditions, operational efficiency, and the adoption of new technologies.

As such, the Smart Parking Inspection system was put in place. The solution is equipped with advanced technologies such as AI, Big data and deep learning, that detect and analyse the vehicle’s plate number, by the use of innovative and intelligent ANPR cameras.

The ANPR cameras are placed at different angles in order to read each license plate and parking layout with high accuracy.

The adoption of AI capabilities for the parking inspection system led to the achievement of added value for the initiative, including the digitalisation of 100% of parking fine tickets, the notification of parking fines via SMS, emails, and smart applications, and disputes to parking fines being done 100% online and resolved within three working days.

By using the smart parking inspection platform, the parking inspectors in the office are also able to review up to 12 different scanned car pictures for each scan case and take the necessary actions.

The innovative solution led to an average of 125,000 vehicles being inspected per day compared to the average of 45,000 vehicles being inspected per day by the parking inspectors. Whilst, the average number of scanned cars per day using the smart scan vehicle is 10,000, which is equivalent to the efficiency of 17 inspectors.

“Due to the success and the achieved results of the current phase of the project, the RTA is currently under process to supply additional smart scan vehicles and expand its parking coverage,” the company said.

The Middle East Technology Excellence Awards honours outstanding companies that made exceptional contributions in pursuit of technological innovation.

The Middle East Technology Excellence Awards is presented by Asian Business Review Magazine. To view the full list of winners, click here. If you want to join the 2024 awards programme and be acclaimed for your company's outstanding contributions in pursuit of technological innovation, please contact Danica Avila at [email protected].