AI cameras to detect violence on Sydney trains

CCTV cameras on Sydney's heavy rail network will be augmented with artificial intelligence over the next six months to automatically detect and report suspicious and violent incidents. Transport for NSW plans to trial the technology to analyse footage captured by the cameras, as part of a new initiative to improve safety for women travelling on public transport at night. It is just one of four winning ideas from the Safety After Dark Innovation Challenge, which offered applicants equity-free seed funding and support through TfNSW's digital accelerator. Researchers from the University of Wollongong's SMART Infrastructure Facility pitched the AI software, which can automatically analyse real-time camera feeds and alert operators. "The AI will be trained to detect incidents such as people fighting, a group of agitated persons, people following someone else, and arguments or other abnormal behaviour," SMART lecturer and team lead Johan Barthelemy said.