INTERVIEW: Building India’s Road to Autonomous Safety

Advanced Driver Assistance Systems, or ADAS, are rapidly becoming part of everyday automotive vocabulary. Once seen only in luxury vehicles, features such as adaptive cruise control, automatic emergency braking, and lane-keeping assist are gradually entering mainstream cars. The promise is simple but powerful: prevent accidents before they happen.

For a country like India, where road safety remains a critical challenge, the potential impact is enormous. India records more than 1.5 lakh road fatalities every year, making it one of the most dangerous road environments globally. For years, safety conversations focused largely on passive safety features such as airbags, crash structures, and safety ratings under programs like Bharat NCAP.

ADAS represents the next step: active safety systems designed to avoid accidents altogether. But there is a complication. Most ADAS technologies have been developed and tested in markets with structured traffic, clearly marked lanes, and disciplined driving behaviour. Indian roads present a very different environment, comprising dense traffic, mixed vehicle types, inconsistent lane markings, and unpredictable driving patterns.

Recognising this gap, the Automotive Research Association of India (ARAI) has launched the country’s first dedicated ADAS Test City near Pune. Spread across 20 acres in Takwe near Talegaon, the facility recreates Indian road scenarios in a controlled environment. The goal is to allow automakers to test, validate, and calibrate ADAS technologies specifically for Indian conditions.

The initiative was formally unveiled during the 3rd edition of The ADAS Show, attended by government officials, global OEMs, suppliers, and technology companies. The facility includes simulated urban environments, complex intersections, lane variations, and testing equipment designed to replicate real-world driving scenarios.

In this conversation, Dr. Reji Mathai, Director of ARAI, explains why India needed its own ADAS testing ecosystem, the role of data and artificial intelligence in developing autonomous systems, and how safety regulations like Bharat NCAP 2.0 could accelerate adoption.

He also outlines why ADAS technologies must be adapted to India’s challenging road conditions and why the journey toward safer, smarter vehicles may be faster than many expect.

ADAS is now becoming part of everyday automotive vocabulary. It is also seen as a key technology that could eventually become mandatory for safety. What makes this new facility important?

I can say that the response to this technology has been overwhelming. ADAS is something we are looking at seriously because it can help address the problem of road accidents and fatalities in India.

If you look at how things have evolved over the past four or five years, we have been thinking about how ADAS features should be brought into the country. One advantage we have is that India participates in regulation discussions at the United Nations level. This allows us to understand how other countries are adopting technologies and how much of it can be adapted for India.

But the objective is not just about creating regulations or issuing guidelines and saying that the requirements have been met. The outcome has to be much larger than that. That is where the thought of building an ADAS Test City came into our plans.

What you see today is still under development. However, once you see the facility and the trials conducted here, you will realise that the idea is to recreate real city conditions in a controlled environment.

Testing technologies abroad and then validating them here is something the industry already does. This facility provides another tool for manufacturers. Ultimately, the goal is that consumers should benefit from safer vehicles.

How challenging is it to develop or calibrate ADAS systems for Indian conditions?

If you look at how technologies are adopted globally and how their impact is measured, we have not always been the best example. Take emissions or safety regulations. In many countries, once regulations are implemented, you see clear improvements in air quality and a reduction in fatalities. In India, we see something different. Our air quality has remained at high levels, around 200 to 300 in many places, even though the economy and vehicle population continue to grow at 8–9% every year. It has not worsened significantly, but it has also not improved as expected.

The same applies to road safety. We still have around 1.5 lakh road fatalities every year. That shows how serious the issue is. So when you ask whether global ADAS technologies can be adopted here, the answer is not always straightforward.

Many of you may have already experienced this. Some systems calibrated for other conditions may not work perfectly in India. Customers sometimes find them intrusive or not well suited for local traffic.

If these technologies do not perform well, they will not remain a strong selling point in the future. That is why validation for Indian conditions is necessary. Our road environment is very diverse. Sometimes, regulations are not implemented perfectly. Traffic density is very high in many areas.

So we need mechanisms to test these technologies repeatedly in controlled conditions. This facility allows us to reproduce scenarios again and again with slight variations. That helps manufacturers test the reliability and robustness of their systems. I believe these tracks will be very useful in achieving that.

What kind of Indian driving conditions have been built into this facility?

We have tried to recreate many scenarios that are typical in Indian cities. For example, we have situations where four lanes merge into two lanes, which is quite common on our roads.

We have S-curves, multiple types of intersections, and crossings that are not always perpendicular. There are also parking areas where guided or autonomous vehicle functions can be tested. We have lane markings as well as sections without lane markings because that is something we often see on Indian roads. Essentially, any variation you want to simulate in real conditions can be recreated here.

We are also introducing testing robots and dummies. We are working on India-specific dummy objects, such as three-wheelers and auto-rickshaws, which are rarely seen in global testing environments. These vehicles are common on Indian roads, so we need to include them in testing scenarios.

There is also a large amount of data acquisition happening. Many OEMs are already collecting this data. At ARAI, we have also conducted around 30,000 to 40,000 kilometres of testing.

But we have observed that data collection challenges vary depending on the vehicle type. A truck behaves differently from a passenger car. The data requirements also differ. All these variations will influence how quickly we can adapt the technology and deliver reliable solutions.

Data and artificial intelligence are becoming central to ADAS and autonomous technologies. How big is the challenge there?

This area looks very attractive from the outside. Many people want to enter it. But when you actually start working on it, you realise the complexity. One of the biggest challenges is the volume of data. In just a few hours or a single day of testing, you can generate terabytes of data. Managing that data becomes a huge task.

You have to ask several questions. Where do you store the data? Do we have sufficient processing centres? Who owns the data? There are also privacy concerns. For example, data captured during testing may include faces or vehicle number plates. That information cannot simply be made public. So there are regulatory and privacy issues as well.

Another challenge is converting raw data into a format that engineers can easily use. How quickly can we process and analyse the information? This is where collaboration becomes important. At events like this, you see many stakeholders working across different aspects of the ecosystem.

In fact, this is the first time since the development of the internal combustion engine that we are seeing such a wide range of new players entering the automotive ecosystem. Many of these stakeholders did not need expertise in ICE technology. But now they are becoming important contributors to the future of mobility.

Do you think India will lag behind global markets in ADAS adoption?

There are a few factors that could help ADAS grow faster in India. One of the most important is infrastructure standardisation. At the UN level, there are discussions under WP29, which focuses on vehicle regulations and mobility technologies. There is another group, WP1, which looks at road infrastructure. In many countries that have advanced ADAS systems, these two aspects, vehicle technology and infrastructure, are aligned.

In India, we need stronger alignment between the two. One possible approach is to identify specific geographies or corridors where infrastructure can be standardised. If we demonstrate that ADAS works reliably in these areas, it will help build confidence.

When we proposed this project, we were asked an important question. The ADAS Test City required a significant investment of around ₹40 crore just for the test tracks. Traditionally, test tracks do not generate direct financial returns. So the question was: will this investment create value? The answer will come when we demonstrate that these technologies are workable in India. If we can standardise certain areas and activate ADAS functions successfully there, it will show the way forward.

Could safety regulations accelerate ADAS adoption?

Certification is often like a pass mark. It tells you whether a vehicle meets the minimum requirement. But it does not always tell you how well the vehicle performs beyond that. Programs like Bharat NCAP help push manufacturers beyond the minimum regulatory requirements. Features that are not mandatory can still be included to achieve higher safety ratings. With Bharat NCAP 2.0, which may come into effect around 2027, ADAS features are expected to play a larger role. Overall, it is a good starting point. Manufacturers aiming for higher safety ratings will naturally start including more advanced safety features.

Do you see a future where all cars in India have ADAS?

I believe the journey may move faster than we expect. The level of response we see today is already much higher than what we saw a few years ago. Vehicle-to-vehicle communication is likely to become an important development in the future. Imagine a scenario where a vehicle ahead suddenly brakes. Your vehicle receives that information instantly and activates safety functions. That kind of communication can enhance ADAS capabilities significantly. Sensor localisation and improved responsiveness will also play a major role.

We have already seen a similar evolution with airbags. Initially, vehicles had only front airbags. Later we moved to multiple airbags. Today, six airbags have become standard in many cars. ADAS will follow a similar path.

Whether you like it or not, these features will eventually become common across vehicles. The real question is how useful and customer-friendly they will be. Facilities like this will help ensure that the technologies are practical and relevant for Indian roads. And that is what will ultimately determine how fast they spread across the market.