Continental’s Technical Center India (TCI) and Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Palakkad have signed a Memorandum of Understanding for a three-year joint research programme. By collaborating on autonomous driving technologies, connected mobility, and advanced safety solutions, Continental and IIT-Palakkad can utilise the technical expertise of Continental and the academic expertise of IIT-Palakkad.

To benefit IIT-Palakkad students, Continental will also offer internship opportunities and design special course works in line with current and upcoming industry trends.

Latha Chembrakalam, head of TCI, Continental, said, “We believe this programme will mutually benefit Continental and IIT-Palakkad in terms of acquiring technology competence and academic excellence. It is in our interest to provide opportunities to the students in the form of internships and specially designed coursework that will help bridge the gap between industry and academia.” 

Additionally, this programme aims to develop niche skills for both Continental and IIT-Palakkad. With this collaboration, Continental and IIT-Palakkad will research, develop, and build competencies in areas such as optimisation of high-performance computing, simulation models for image and video processing chains for autonomous driving, and advanced safety solutions for intelligent battery sensing modules.

Santhakumar, Dean of industry collaboration and sponsored research, IIT- Palakkad, said, “We want to set a benchmark that will help us accomplish some of the unique industry problem statements while ensuring real-time technical exposure for our students. Our academic know-how will promote this program in the right direction.” 

Students will also have the opportunity to assist Continental's topic experts in the research project through internships. Hackathons and competitive challenges will be organised for the students.

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