Aryan Sharma was born into the C-of-Red, and like many Calgarians, he was sad when Johnny Gaudreau left the team in 2022 and heartbroken when he tragically died in 2024.

“I was very devastated, honestly, when I was reading these articles, seeing a reckless driver who had drunk a couple of beers before he got behind the wheel,” Sharma said of Gaudreau’s passing.

“It really sparked, not only frustration at the start, but then, ‘why wasn’t there something that could have made this not even happen in the first place?’ And so that’s when my innovation centre sparked, you know, ‘what could I do? What could I use my skills to help solve a part of this problem?’”

In the year since Johnny Hockey’s passing, the now 15-year-old Sharma has been hard at work creating DU-Eye, an Artificial Intelligence (AI) powered tool designed to detect and report impaired driving.

Using a camera-based system with technology called Computer Vision, DU-Eye can recognize many different types of dangerous driving behaviours, such as drifting between lanes, swerving, weaving, getting too close to other cars or infrastructure and abnormal changes in speed.

“Once it detects a dangerous driver, it sends car builds and license plates and things like that to a local authority where they can apprehend them and check what’s happening with the driver,” Sharma said, who is a grade 10 student at Queen Elizabeth High School in Calgary.

There are numerous potential applications for the device, Sharma said, including being placed remotely at intersections, or on top of lampposts or bridges, but none without human oversight.

“Artificial intelligence, I think it’s an emerging field, and for that reason, it makes many mistakes. AI is a great tool, but it is not to replace humans. My device works best where the AI detects dangerous driving, sends that to a local authority, where they can review the driving footage to make sure it’s correct and then determine whether the driver is doing something dangerous,” Sharma told LWC.

A human review system can effectively deduce reckless driving compared to swerving from ice or an animal, something AI currently struggles with.

Using AI as a tool, not a replacement for humanity

Sharma said that when his idea was budding, large language models like ChatGPT were booming in popularity, but it was a technology he knew very little about.

After doing some research, he found that AI can be used effectively for social good, a concept that Sharma loves to apply himself.

“That’s exactly what I like to do, I just want to learn the ins and outs, the mathematics behind AI,” he said.

For his project, AI is used intentionally, and shouldn’t, but already does in some cases, act as a better, faster replacement to a human mind, according to Sharma.

“If you really think about it, we’re kind of just letting AI already take over the human mind. One of the best things the human mind has done is make all these different inventions, like the light bulb,” he said,

“Once we start using it as a replacement, I believe, then we just lose all the things the human mind has been gifted with, which is creativity, critical thinking.”

DU-Eye as it stands

After many virtual trials, even in video games like Grand Theft Auto, Sharma believes his project has made it out of the simulation area, but said the next steps have been challenging.

“I’m now working towards the real world aspect. I’m looking at changing light conditions, changing weather conditions are affecting my model and I’ve been constantly choosing my computer base to be able to adapt to that,” he said.

“The real world testing has been a very, very hard challenge and it’s been a very big learning process.”

Sharma hopes to do a pilot run with an organization, or even the City of Calgary, to test any other gaps his project may still have, like how it would function overnight or for days on end.

When Sharma heard about Intel’s Global AI Festival, applying was a no-brainer.

“They (Intel) advertised how their mission was to use technology for social good and artificial intelligence for social good. I just really resonated with that,” he said.

“After many rounds of interviews and judges examining my project, I was the sole country recognition winner from Canada. It’s really been an honour to be recognized at that level.”

Sharma knows that dangerous and impaired driving is hardly a Calgary-specific issue and hopes to one day bring his technology worldwide.

For the rest of high school, he is eager to continue developing his understanding of computer science and AI, beyond that, a post-secondary program involving his current passions is not too far away.

“I’d like to specialize in artificial intelligence or computer science or Mechatronics Engineering, which blends electronic engineering, mechanical engineering and computer science altogether,” he said.