AI Detection Technology Credited with Faster Incident Detection and Fewer Crashes on Peruvian Highway

February 20, 2024

A traffic manager in Peru has explained how an AI-enabled traffic monitoring system has helped make his roads safer, allowing him to more quickly respond to incidents and hazardous situations on the highway.

Francisco Chenguayen, Operations Manager of the Lima Expresa Toll Road made the comments during a webinar hosted by the International Bridge, Tunnel and Turnpike Association (IBTTA).

He was explaining the value of a road safety system installed on the Lima Express by British data analytics company Valerann, which detects more than 95% of all road incidents in under five minutes. This is achieved by ingesting multiple data sources including traffic cameras, roadside infrastructure, Waze and Google Maps, to detect anomalies and deliver accurate road traffic information in real time. The system facilitates preventative measures for road accidents management by detecting pedestrians and stopped vehicles in potentially dangerous zones.

“We used to detect only the alerts that the operators in the control room could detect through the cameras… and usually we were detecting 400 to 450 alerts per week,” explained Mr Chenguayen. “Now, with the implementation of Lantern, we have between 900 and 950 alerts per week.

“Also the detection time has decreased… because we use this data fusion in order to detect every event in the highway. We used to have events detected in 12 minutes on average, now the average is five minutes and there are events detected in even less time, and this is helping a lot”, he added.

The Lanternn by Valerann platform’s advanced analytics and AI capabilities enable accurate detection and identification of road incidents, allowing the road operators to assign resources more accurately and efficiently.

The webinar saw how crashes have fallen month-on-month by up to 25% since the introduction of the system in Peru, with an average reduction of 15%. This is being put down to the value fact it can predict where road collisions are more likely to take place before they happen, allowing warning signs to be set and emergency services to head to an area just in case.

“When we began working with Lima Expresa, we committed to it being more than just a collaboration; we made a commitment to saving lives,” commented Michael Vardi, CBO and co-founder of Valerann. “Since installation, we have shown we are revolutionising road safety and traffic management on major arteries in Lima and we truly are on a transformative journey.”

You can watch the whole webinar here.