IITH collaborates with SMC for terrestrial vehicles

Hyderabad: IIT Hyderabad (IITH) collaborates with Suzuki Motor Corporation (SMC) in the field of Autonomous navigation for terrestrial vehicles. The developed technology at IITH will enable the conversion of a drive-by-wire vehicle into an autonomous vehicle by integrating different sensors for perception, localisation and navigation. The state-of-the-art autonomous vehicle tested at DST NM-ICPS Technology Innovation Hub on Autonomous Navigation & Data Acquisition Systems (TiHAN), IITH, will be used for testing and validating the technology.

IITH and SMC shared a vision to study elemental technologies and have signed an agreement in 2021 to develop the technology that can contribute to road safety and road accident reduction in India by developing Autonomous Driving and ADAS technologies based on Indian traffic scenarios. The collaboration will further strengthen the Indian-Japanese bond and allow the exploration of new joint development avenues. Recently SMC Higher Officials visited IITH to assess the readiness of the technology.

Prof B S Murty, Director, IIT Hyderabad, said, "IIT Hyderabad has been at the forefront of research & development in collaboration with Industry. SMC is a valuable partner in our endeavour to develop an autonomous navigation system for ground vehicles in association with TiHAN. IITH shares a unique collaboration with Japan, and this collaboration with SMC will further strengthen our commitment to bilateral growth."

"TiHAN at IITH has been established to focus on the research & development of autonomous & intelligent navigation systems. Our association with SMC will enable us to use our state-of-the-art Testbed facility at TiHAN to test and validate an automation navigation system suitable for Indian scenarios", said Prof P Rajalakshmi, Principal Investigator for the study & Project Director, TiHAN- IIT Hyderabad.

"SMC collaborates with IITH in the development of autonomous driving technology to resolve problems such as vehicle collision and traffic congestion in India. We look forward to working with IITH on advanced mobility technology and strengthening human resources for international collaborative research and development", said Kurachi Nobunari, Department, General Manager, SMC.