Driving tests will be automated at nine newly-built testing tracks in Andhra Pradesh from August 15.
At these centres, there will be no need for human intervention to assess the ability of the driver to handle a two-wheeler or a four-wheeler.
One of the nine advanced automated scientific driving test tracks laid at Anantapur Deputy Transport Commissioner’s office complex is ready and a trial run of the facility is scheduled for the month-end.
The other testing tracks have been laid at Gambheeram in Visakhapatnam, Chittoor, Gannavaram in Vijayawada, Tirupati, Kurnool, Guntur, Nellore, and Proddatur.
A Radio-frequency identification (RFID)-assisted system that tracks the driver from the starting point to the end of the two-km track sends an automated video recording of the entire testing process of 10 minutes with the result to the applicant.
Anantapur Deputy Transport Commissioner N. Sivaram Prasad, explaining the salient features of the new system, told The Hindu that after booking an online slot, the person being tested puts her thumb on a kiosk at the entrance of the office to collect an RFID signal emitter to carry with her while driving the vehicle.
The entire area is networked with CCTV cameras, and RFID readers/sensors, and the department officers sit in the control room akin to an Air Traffic Control room, watching the person’s progress on a computer screen. The RFID uses electromagnetic fields to automatically identify and track tags attached to vehicles.
As soon as the driver to be tested collects her emitter, she enters a portion of the track designed like a number ‘8’ followed by ‘H’, and then after negotiating all these curves and twists, she needs to show her reverse parking skill at the ‘P’ Zone, which is called Parallel Parking Zone.
From ‘P’ Zone, the driver enters a bad and bumpy road followed by the bridge and gradient portion, where she needs to keep her vehicle standstill for two minutes on the slope and should not roll back while restarting to come out of the test track, said Motor Vehicle Inspector A.V. Ramana Reddy, in-charge of the track.
