For Indian car buyers, safety features like ADAS are a key metric in their decision. However, these till now, have been limited to premium segment cars, and even then available mostly in their top variants. However, that situation may change soon.
Aumovio is planning to launch a more cost effective ADAS in India. It has developed a single smart camera ADAS system, that it calls a "1V" system, which gives few key driver assistance functions without the need of radar, lidar or multi-camera systems typical of ADAS in use currently.
ADAS Without Radar or Lidar
Speaking to Autocar Professional, Prashanth Doreswamy, Aumovio's India head, said “We have developed a system for the Indian market where it can work for some of the extended assisted functions like lane departure warning, lane keep assist, or be emergency break assist, and some of the functions like this. It can work with one single camera, a smart camera.”
The single-camera unit supports lane departure warning, lane-keep assist, emergency brake assist and adaptive cruise control. Aumovio says this qualifies it as an L2 system, with a path to L2+ through software updates rather than additional hardware.
On cost, the company has not disclosed per unit price but says a single-camera architecture is inherently cheaper to build and integrate than the multi-camera, radar-fusion systems, while still delivering necessary advanced safety functions.
Adapting AI Algorithms
The camera is AI-enabled, built on deep-learning techniques that the company says are similar to those behind modern AI LLM systems, which allows the system to keep improving its reading of driving environments over time and adapt to local conditions including the unpredictability of Indian traffic.
Aumovio says the camera is already in series production and fitted across multiple vehicle programmes globally, with deployments live in China, the ASEAN region and Europe, and rollouts are under way in Australia, New Zealand, North America andl European markets. In India, Aumovio is in discussions with multiple OEMs for a local launch, though it has not committed to a timeline.
Bharat NCAP 2.0 Impact
India's transport ministry has proposed Bharat NCAP 2.0, a revised crash-rating framework due to take effect from October 2027. Bharat NCAP 2.0 replaces the current two-pillar scoring system with a hundred-point, five-pillar assessment which will include crash performance, vulnerable road user protection and, accident avoidance technology.
The revised protocol will score vehicles on how well they help avoid crashes and protect people outside the vehicle, alongside the crash test itself. Accident-avoidance and driver-assistance systems will carry roughly a fifth of the total score, meaning cars without ADAS provision risk being capped at lower star ratings regardless of crash-test performance.
Electronic stability control and curtain airbags are set to become mandatory prerequisites for any star rating under the draft framework, with a five-star result requiring at least 70 of 100 points between 2027 and 2029, rising to 80 points from 2029. For manufacturers targeting the sub-Rs 10 lakh segment where margins are thin, a cost effective ADAS architecture can be a gamechanger helping them score higher in crash test.