ARAI Working On Autonomous Car Concept

Will it become a reality?

Right now you might be trying to recall where you have seen this ‘ARAI’ abbreviation. Allow me to help. ARAI is most frequently associated with the fuel efficiency figures that all auto majors publish in brochures of their products. ARAI actually stands for Automotive Research Association of India and fuel-efficiency tests for new vehicles is just one of the jobs it undertakes.

Headquartered in Pune, Maharashtra, ARAI also organises Symposium on International Automotive Technology (SIAT) every year. It is claimed to be a common platform where renowned companies from all corners of the country gather to share ideas and knowledge concerning the evolution of the automotive industry. The recently concluded SIAT 2017, held through January 18-21, 2017, was the 15th in its series and on the closing day a promising video was played. In this video, a small, driver-less car is on a test track and is perfectly capable of performing certain manoeuvres like overtaking a stationary car and turning left or right.

A total of 20 engineers from ARAI and software development company Cognizant are known to be working on this home-grown autonomous car project. Senior officials from ARAI have claimed that once honed, the autonomous tech can be used to assist during night-driving, on select corridors at certain speeds.

According to a report by TOI, Mangesh Saraf, deputy director, ARAI said, "We believe it will be much safer (when the technology matures), as the sensors fixed on the car can sense 360 degrees, and farther than the human eye. The need of the hour is not just driverless vehicles, but also driver-assisted vehicles with better reaction and intelligence.”

In a time span of six months, ARAI aims to test the autonomous tech with more vehicles to replicate some real road conditions.