Lenar Gabdurakhmanov: 'Someday we will be able to get away from surveillance cameras'

09:00, 24.09.2021

National strategies of the transport industry and the issues of its digitalisation were discussed at the Kazan Digital Week forum

During the second day of the forum, the participants of Kazan Digital Week considered modern opportunities in the field of digitalisation of transport systems. How the laws in this area work today, what initiatives have been put forward by the ministry of transport, how tachographs in private cars could help traffic police officers, and whether they can recognise the driver's condition — read in the material of Realnoe Vremya.

Transport digitalisation

As part of the second day of the Kazan Digital Week forum, national strategies of the transport industry, in particular intelligent transport systems (ITS), were discussed at one of the platforms. The moderator of the meeting, Chairman of the Council of the Association for the Promotion of Digital Development, Director of Road Traffic Safety state institution Rifkat Minnikhanov reminded about the decree on the national goals of Russia until 2030 as of July 21, 2020:

“You know that there is the presidential decree, and the regions have developed their strategies within the framework of decisions that need to be shown in 2030. We made our strategy in Tatarstan. From the position of the federal leadership, a decision was made on the sectoral direction in the development of the strategy. On the one hand, it is good that this is at least there, on the other — not very good. Because the industry principle leads to that the responsibility for the ITS is assigned to the ministry of transport. Although the ministry of construction is responsible for the Smart City, the ministry of emergency situations is responsible for the safe city. That is, there are many intersecting issues today. I believe that our position was developed taking into account the integration of certain areas in terms of the industry principle.”

The speaker mentioned the initiatives of the ministry of transport in his speech:

Unmanned vehicles for passengers and universities.
Seamless cargo logistics.
Digital management of transport systems of the Russian Federation.
Digitalisation of transport security.
Digital twins of transport infrastructure objects.

One of the first laws in the field of digitalisation of transport was adopted in 2013 — the law on tachograph. It was assumed that in the vehicle that transports more than eight passengers and dangerous goods, it is necessary to install devices that would record the worker or driver, speed limit, coordinates, said Ilgiza Kagirova, the director of Tachograph-Kazan PLC: “These data were supposed to be transmitted to the control room. Such device allowed inspectors or regulatory authorities to monitor the driver's work.”

Tachographs in private cars

At the same time, Law No. 495 as of December 28 was issued, which amended certain legislative acts and implied that any car produced in Russia must be equipped with an emergency call button, as well as the creation of a dispatcher service. In accordance with the Resolution No. 352, intercity vehicles must be provided with the GLONASS system. There are also two laws that regulate the installation of video surveillance systems.

The head of the Traffic Police Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Tatarstan, Lenar Gabdurakhmanov, in his turn, noted that tachographs must also be installed inside private cars. This will allow traffic police officers to better track the details of road accidents. At the same time, according to the speaker, this is still a matter of the distant future:

“If we can provide control systems (tachographs) in every car, in fact, someday we will be able to get away from surveillance cameras. We will immediately understand for each car: who violated, who did not violate, and take measures.”

The tachograph can even record the physical condition of a person, up to the pulse, and determines if the driver falls asleep. However, it is much more dangerous when one passes out suddenly. To determine such conditions, more complex and advanced equipment is needed, the experts stressed.

No ITS will replace the traffic officers?

The issue of video surveillance always remains relevant. Some of the participants in the discussion expressed the hope that the ITS would give the opportunity to get by with fewer inspectors on the roads. Others do not agree with them and say that no, even the most modern devices, can become a full-fledged replacement for them.

Pavel Teplov, the director for innovations at Merkator Holding PLC, in turn, noted that the ITS needs to be implemented and developed taking into account the peculiarities of the region.

We cannot ignore the expertise of state regulation in the field of ITS. Transport strategies appeared in different editions not so long ago, in which there are several “exciting moments”, said Sultan Zhankaziev, the president of the Association of Transport Engineers, head of the department Organisation and Traffic Safety of the Moscow Automobile and Road State Technical University:

“We had the opportunity to carefully analyse all goals and objectives that are indicated there. I drew attention to the goal 4 — digital transformation. It is possible that the numbering will be slightly different in the final version. We are trying to influence it — now it is still possible. In the goal 4, we were interested in task 13 — digitalisation of the infrastructure and transport system lifecycle. There, when unpacking it, they pointed to transport systems just declaratively. This is dangerous, because the topics of ITS are so complex that when you mention ITS without specifying the functions of state regulation, they automatically go into the segment of market regulation.”

The speaker also noted that it is necessary to take into account the risks. Because some of them can significantly affect the requirements and standards. According to him, there are two vulnerabilities in the development of ITS today: weak development rates and the impossibility of operation permit for various reasons. “We need a mechanism for using intelligent transport systems. Audit is also of great importance," he concluded.

Maria Korotkova

Tatarstan