Alibaba’s Amap teams up with safety agency to detect road emergencies ahead of ‘golden week’
The system integrates multi-source data to detect disasters on roads and bridges within seconds and then alerts drivers
Amap, the online mapping service owned by Alibaba Group Holding, has joined hands with China’s official crisis management agency to launch an AI-powered technology designed to detect and prevent emergencies on the road, as the country expects 1.87 billion people to travel by car during one of its busiest holidays.
The “Eagle Eye Guardian” alert system, which was launched on Sunday by the Alibaba unit and China’s Academy of Safety Science and Technology, an agency overseen by the Ministry of Emergency Management, aimed to improve response to major highway emergencies, according to a statement by the ministry. Alibaba owns the South China Morning Post.
The system integrates multi-source data – including map navigation and mobile phone positioning data – to detect disasters on roads and bridges within seconds, and then alerts drivers. It uses artificial intelligence models and “a spatial intelligence architecture” to analyse vehicles on the road, according to the statement.
Amap has already integrated the alert system into its app and applied it across the nation, with the function now covering 17 daily driving scenarios such as sudden braking and fast vehicles coming from behind.
The launch of the new system comes ahead of China’s National Day holiday, one of the busiest periods for travel in the country.