London Tube Uses AI For Passengers Safety

Uploaded on 2025-01-25 in TECHNOLOGY-Key Areas-Artificial Intelligence, NEWS-Cybersecurity News, FREE TO VIEW, BUSINESS-Services-Transport & Travel

An Artificial Intelligence (AI) trial is being tested at some London stations to detect people who have fallen on the rail tracks. Transport for London (TfL) has said it will use new AI technology with the aim to keep passengers safe on station platforms.

TfL is testing the AI's ability to identify objects on the rails, such as people jumping on the tracks on purpose or by accident, which then will alert station station staff if they need to intervene.

The new technology is already being used on the Docklands Light Railway (DLR) platforms at Custom House station in East London after testing similar systems at Willesden Green Underground station.At Custom House, security camera footage is reviewed by an AI program to rapidly identify and detect objects on the rails while ignoring train movements.

Mayor of London Sadiq Khan has said this technology will improve customers' safety between the gap from the train and platform edge. This comes after the rail safety investigator said a man who died on the London Underground after being run over by four trains. At Willesden Green, a wide-ranging AI trial was used in 2022 and 2023 to detect not only potential fare dodging, but also whether weapons were being brought into the station, and whether people were standing too close to the edge of the platform.

TfL is now exploring other potential locations across the TfL network for similar trials, which it hopes to have in place during the second half of this year.

In November, ex-Labour minster, Lord Blunkett, who is blind, called for an urgent review into what he described as "death trap" Tube platforms, after he was injured falling into a gap as he boarded a District Line train at Westminster station.

British Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer recently announced an AI Opportunities Action Plan, a blueprint to help UK from falling behind the advances in Artificial Intelligence made in the USA and China.which he hopes will boost growth and deliver services more efficiently across the UK.

Image: Ideogram

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