Dubai’s Roads and Transport Authority is driving up efforts to increase customer satisfaction by installing cameras to check how happy people are after being served in their centres. The authority installed smart cameras at four of its Happiness Centres to analyse customers’ facial expressions before and after their transactions in Al Barsha, Umm Al Ramool, Deira and Al Awir. The cameras, which use artificial intelligence technology, examine people’s expressions without saving the images to protect the privacy of customers. The system then calculates how happy they are about the service they received, sending a detailed report to a dashboard. It can also send text messages and emails when happiness levels fall short to alert staff of a potential problem. “The smart happiness index monitors the variation in customers’ happiness level from the moment of stepping into the centre until the time of leaving and links it with the level of service delivered,” said Maher Shirah, director of Smart Services, at RTA’s Corporate Technology Support Services Sector. “This technology generates an atmosphere of positive competition amongst customers’ happiness, and prompts the use of the ‘Gamification technique’ to improve on the level of services, which ensures the customers happiness and satisfaction” he said. Manufactured in the UAE, the cameras are “highly accurate,” the RTA said. They build a picture of people’s facial expressions by taking 30 frames per second at a seven metre range. Dubai frequently uses artificial intelligence technology to assist in its aim to become the smartest city in the world. Last week, the UAE's Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence said the UAE has the potential to become a testing ground for the worldwide development of artificial intelligence. Omar Al Olama urged private companies to work with the government in an effort to make the country a hub for the technology.
