India Needs Locally Tuned ADAS to Build Driver Trust: Renault 

Renault Group is stepping up work on India-specific advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS), saying safety technology must be tuned to local driving realities rather than directly imported from global markets.

Speaking at 3rd edition of The ADAS Show organised by ARAI in Pune, Nina Reock, Vice President--Software Engineering (Drive & Comfort) at Renault Group, said the company is investing in local engineering, validation and scenario development to ensure ADAS works effectively in India.

“ADAS is meant to make driving safer and more comfortable. But today’s systems are largely designed for structured roads and predictable traffic. India is very different,” Reock said.

She added that Renault’s approach for India focuses on adapting perception, alerts and interventions to local driving behaviour so that drivers trust and continue using the systems.

“If we don’t adapt ADAS to Indian conditions, drivers will get too many alerts and intrusive interventions. They will get annoyed and switch the systems off. Then the safety benefit is lost,” she said.

India requires a different ADAS logic

Reock said India’s traffic environment presents unique challenges for ADAS development. Roads are diverse. Traffic is mixed. Driving behaviour is less rule-based and more adaptive.

“You have two-wheelers cutting in, pedestrians crossing, animals on the road, vehicles joining from side roads and even wrong-way driving. Drivers constantly negotiate space,” she said.

Such conditions require ADAS systems to detect and track a wider variety of objects than in Europe or North America, she added. These include auto-rickshaws, heavily loaded two-wheelers and oddly shaped vehicles.

“Traditional ADAS is designed for structured roads and standard targets. In India, we must tune perception and tracking for real-world conditions,” Reock said.

She said Indian drivers also operate with smaller gaps and informal lane usage. Systems that are too rigid or overly sensitive could frustrate users.

“Drivers here follow the flow of traffic. They read intent. They anticipate what others will do. ADAS must work with that reality, not against it,” she said.

Focus on trust and usability
Renault believes building trust will be critical for ADAS adoption in India. Reock cited global studies showing many drivers disable certain features if they find them intrusive or unreliable.

“More features do not automatically mean more safety. If a feature does not work well in daily life, drivers will switch it off,” she said.

She stressed that alerts and interventions must be calibrated carefully. Visual and haptic warnings should be prioritised over constant audible alerts.

“We need non-intrusive human-machine interfaces. Alerts should be context-aware and based on risk severity,” she said.

Renault is also working on progressive interventions, where braking or steering inputs are gradual rather than abrupt. This better matches local driving expectations.

“Drivers prefer gentle intervention. The system should support them, not take over aggressively,” Reock said.

Local validation and engineering push

Reock said Renault has built a dedicated ADAS engineering team in India to support localisation efforts. The company is also creating a library of Indian driving scenarios for validation.

“We have driven thousands of kilometres in India to tune our systems. Copy-pasting global ADAS will not meet Indian expectations,” she said.

The company is focusing on tuning perception for Indian road users, adapting thresholds based on traffic density and speed, and validating software on real-world scenarios.

Continuous improvement after launch will also be key. Renault plans to use software updates to refine system behaviour over time.

“We must validate on real Indian scenarios and continue tuning even after start of production. That is how we move from theory to trust,” she said.

Renault’s India plans

Renault is already applying its India-specific ADAS approach to upcoming models. Reock cited the new Duster as an example, where systems have been tuned for local roads and traffic behaviour.

“We have invested heavily in adapting our systems for India. This is about making them usable and trusted in daily driving,” she said.

She added that if done correctly, ADAS can improve safety outcomes significantly.

“When done right, ADAS goes beyond comfort. It makes Indian roads safer for drivers and everyone around them,” Reock said.