AI-Detected Bus Lane Offence Accuracy Assessment, Officer Review Requirements and Motorist Appeal Process

Written Reply to Parliamentary Question

Mr Low Wu Yang Andre asked the Minister for Transport regarding LTA's planned AI system using bus cameras to detect bus lane encroachments

a.          how its reported 90% trial accuracy is calculated, including sample size and false-positive and false-negative rates by intended use;

b.          whether every AI-detected traffic offence will be reviewed by an authorised officer before enforcement; and

c.           how motorists can challenge an erroneous detection.

Reply by Minister for Transport Jeffrey Siow

1.          The artificial intelligence (AI) systems were trialled across a variety of use-cases, including to detect road defects, road works, and bus lane encroachments. For bus lanes, the systems analysed over 800 hours of bus camera footage over three months, which captured more than 450 encroachments in total. The AI systems correctly detected 415 cases, or about 90% of encroachments. They also detected 257 cases which turned out to be false positives.

2.          The Land Transport Authority (LTA) will continue to work with the vendor to refine these tools, including to reduce the number of false positives. In time, we will reduce the need for human oversight. Meanwhile, bus lane violations detected by the AI system will still be manually reviewed before enforcement action is taken. Motorists can contest or appeal a notice, similar to any other traffic offence today. These contests and appeals will continue to be assessed by human officers.

3.          As the technology matures and accuracy improves, LTA will expand the use of bus cameras and AI across more public bus services to safeguard bus lanes and maintain bus speeds and reliability.