China Deploys Its First Robot Traffic Police

To streamline and control the ever-increasing chaotic pedestrian and road traffic in China, the Handan Public Security Bureau announced the use of three types of traffic robot police that will be deployed in the City. This will display the advanced development of China’s artificial intelligence traffic management in Northern China’s Hebei Province.

Robots deployed

• The road patrol robot will be regulating and enforcing the laws of the road. This robot which resembles a traffic police officer in a yellow uniform and white hat. The main functions of the road patrol robot are to identify drivers and take photos of drivers’ illegal behavior. Another function is to curb the jaywalkers and enforce the law for minor infringements via automated processes and AI. 

• The advice traffic robot works in vehicle management stations. The purpose is to ensure that there is a regulated management in the use of vehicles on the roads, provide information regarding vehicle movement and automatically report illegal activities regarding traffic to the police.  

• The accident warning robot will eliminate or minimize congestion by reminding road users that the police is busy dealing with traffic accidents. 

“The robots will be on duty 24/7”, Handan Public Security Bureau official Li Huai told Chinese news site hebnews.cn.

China has started the use of robots back in 2016 when the AnBot security robot was deployed at the Shenzhen airport. The E-Patrol Robot Sheriff began patrolling streets in 2017 to assist the police.

Exiting as the prospect of the deployment of these advanced technologies may seem, it is also a scary glimpse into the future and the impact it will have on the free world. China is the leader in the field of facial recognition systems, RFID tags mandatory in new cars, deployed police officers with facial recognition glasses, patrol drones and a rigid reward scoring system controlling the lives of the Chinese people. What is clear though, is that China is leaning into the use of technology for law enforcement with the rollout of 5G and the endless source of information on the World Wide Web.