Mobileye’s ADAS: Poised to power India's safety shift

For all its breathtaking views, renown sites, and colorful communities, India is not an easy place to drive. The sub-continent has more than 1.4 billion residents who drive about 375 million vehicles across millions of kilometers nationwide, and, while the government and auto industry are taking actions in an attempt to manage mobility at such a large scale, there is a clear unfortunate reality. In 2022, India counted at least 168 thousand fatalities in more than 400 thousand road accidents, more than any other country. Due to the staggering toll, emerging governmental and business initiatives are paving the way for technology to counter these numbers.  

Growing safety in India 

The Indian auto industry is growing, with some projections saying it could reach $300B by 2026. The country has one of the largest road networks in the world that is rapidly expanding inside urban areas and between major cities. Alongside the growth, local policymakers and industry leaders have been working to introduce more safety measures, with ADAS (Advanced driver-assistance system) becoming more commonplace in vehicles and lay the groundwork for the next generation of autonomous driving solutions. 

Recently, the Indian Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has drafted legislation that could make ADAS safety features, including blind spot monitoring and collision warning, standard across various segments in the industry, while Bharat NCAP is expected to expand its requirements and set new bars for vehicle safety ratings in the country. 

The integration of ADAS and other advanced safety measures in India is growing, with the aim that it will help counter accidents, save lives and even help direct the most populated country in world towards the autonomous future. However, to get on that road, current ADAS technologies have to account to India’s unique attributes such as the local driving culture, infrastructure and different driving environments. 

Localizing ADAS for India  

When training, testing and validating safety systems—from basic driver assist to a hands-off driving platform several key local factors must be considered. This is true around the globe but even more so in India, as it differs greatly from other geographies in driving behavior, road infrastructure, and hazards. 

India presents uniquely complex challenges for the design of driver-assistance solutions and platforms. Roads are shared by a diverse mix of users- pedestrians, cars, trucks, rickshaws, bikes, animals, and other obstacles, often moving in different directions, even on highways, with some roads having minimal to no lane markings, and driving norms differ when compared to other countries. Safety systems must be equipped to handle real-world local scenarios where drivers navigate around rickshaws, pedestrians carrying sacks of produce, roaming cattle, and densely packed traffic, all while ensuring smooth and safe driving.  

The Mobileye-India connection 

The move in India to incorporate a growing number of ADAS features and beyond, mixed with Mobileye’s expertise and abilities in the country, creates an alignment that pushes car safety to new heights.  

Indian automakers, rightly expect that any technological addition to their vehicles must be tailored to the unique local driving conditions, in order to be rendered useful.  In response, Mobileye refined and expanded its feature set, ensuring its ADAS could answer these specific needs.  From base ADAS to Cloud-Enhanced ADAS™ to SuperVision™, each solution is developed with a focus on localization and real-world applicability, designed to support safe navigation in India’s demanding traffic environment. 

All of these solutions are powered by our dedicated automotive grade EyeQ™ system-on-chip, which enables ADAS applications such as Automatic Emergency Breaking and Automatic Cruise Control, and contributes to safer navigation in complex traffic conditions. 

One standout feature is Mobileye's animal detection tool. In India, cows roam freely and share the roadways with vehicles, and the ability to recognize them and take appropriate action is critical. Mobileye’s algorithm is specifically trained to identify cows, whether moving or standing and from different angles, and respond as needed.  Appropriately identifying cows is a local need that saw Mobileye invest in dedicated training and validation methods to ensure optimized performance – beyond standard animal detection.  

India’s future path 

Mobileye’s strong foundation in India, along with the local industry’s drive towards more advanced technology opens an opportunity for a real change. India’s clear goal to reduce vehicle casualties, combined with the market’s unique culture and tech-first environment provides an opportunity for Mobileye to provide world leading ADAS technological that is custom made for Indian roads and drivers. 
 
"Mobileye" in this article means Mobileye Vision Technologies Ltd.