Maruti Suzuki India has inaugurated the 16th and last automated driving test track at Lado Sarai, New Delhi, marking the completion of its MoA with Government of Delhi signed in December 2017. This makes Delhi the first State to have an all automated driving test track infrastructure.
The driving test track was inaugurated by Ashish Kundra (IAS), Principal Secretary-cum-Commissioner, Transport, Government of Delhi. Beyond this 16, Kundra said the government is in talks with MSIL for eight more tracks.
He further emphasised while the automated test driving track is a step towards the right direction, the government is also looking at ways to add road safety as a part of the school curriculum for children. Various automated camera technologies are also being tested to ensure road safety by checking on the traffic rule offenders without any manual intervention, he said. The inauguration of the 16th track coincided with the international Road Safety week.
Strong Commitment
Rahul Bharti, Executive Officer – Corporate Affairs, Maruti Suzuki India said the pass percentage of applicants in the manual testing method stood at 84% in 2018. However, soon after the introduction of Automated Driving Test Tracks (ADTTs) and standardisation of testing, the pass percentage dipped sharply to about 34%. which has gradually improved to 64% now.
In these ADTTs, driving license seekers get tested on their driving skills by video analytics technology with zero human intervention, all within ten minutes cycle time.
The ADTTs assess candidates through a variety of tests including reverse parallel parking, 8-formation, overtaking test, traffic junction test, reverse parallel parking, gradient test for four-wheelers. In the case of two-wheelers, applicants have to drive around a serpentine track to prove their vehicle-handling and control skills, along with an emergency brake test and ramp test.
Maruti Suzuki India has been working over the past two decades on all the five pillars of road safety, said Bharti, including engineering, education, evaluation, enforcement and emergency care. The agreement with the Government of Delhi was inked in 2017 to set up state-of-the-art automated driving test centres across 12 locations in the city with a planned investment of INR 12 crore.
Under the agreement, MSIL had to build the ADTTs, provide the technology that has been sourced from Smartchip Technologies and maintain the tracks for the first three years. Six of these tracks have been completely handed over to the State government, Bharti aid.
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