Centre testing AI system to identify rural road defects

The government is testing an artificial intelligence system that can identify potholes, cracks and other defects on rural roads from videos recorded on mobile phones, with a nationwide field-validation exercise underway since earlier this month, a senior official said on Sunday.

According to the official, the ministry has given “in-principle approval” for trials of the AI-based road-condition assessment system on roads built under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY). The system is being developed by the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) with the National Rural Infrastructure Development Agency (NRIDA).

The technology is only being tested as a tool to support road maintenance decisions, while engineers will continue to physically verify road defects, compare their measurements with the findings generated by the AI system, the official cited above said.

“The AI-based road condition assessment is being developed and field-validated to support efficient and technology-enabled road maintenance assessment,” the official added.

At present, road maintenance is monitored through physical inspections and geo-tagged photographs recorded by field officials on the eMARG mobile application.

The initial trials earlier this year covered six roads in Pune, Lucknow district, Kamrup district in Assam and Ri-Bhoi district in Meghalaya. Trials using an improved version of the model were subsequently conducted on seven roads in Kanpur district and Berasia block of Bhopal district, the official said.

“The system is being tested to identify visible road defects including potholes, longitudinal and transverse cracks, edge breaks, surface depressions, patches and vegetation-related obstructions,” he added.

“The exercise is intended to provide more data to refine the system before wider use,” the official said.

A wider national field-validation exercise began on September 1, with states and Union territories identifying Programme Implementation Units (PIUs) for trials on PMGSY roads.

Currently, a mobile application is being used to record road-condition videos to check the quality of these roads, using a mobile device already mounted on vehicles available with PIUs. The government said dedicated dashcams could be considered later depending on field requirements and operational suitability.

“The approach is meant to allow road-condition assessments without creating a separate fleet of inspection vehicles,” per the official.

The ministry is also considering whether roads could eventually be assessed every quarter under a proposed technology-enabled maintenance framework. However, the frequency has not yet been finalised.

AI-generated assessments will help identify and document maintenance requirements, but engineers will continue to verify the findings and take maintenance-related decisions under existing procedures.

The ministry also said existing contractual provisions, including those relating to maintenance and the Defects Liability Period , will continue to apply.The Defects Liability Period is five years from the completion date.