[groom]

In an important move that is a precursor to the arrival of - Automated Emergency Braking, Car to Infrastructure communication and many other safety devices, Govt made a significant move.

The government has de-licensed certain very low frequency bands for the automotive industry, a decision that could help in making connected and safer vehicles in a country where more than 1.4 lakh people die every year in road accidents.

Car makers can use this frequency through radar-based system and offer advanced driver assistance features like blind spot monitoring, adaptive cruise control and lane departure warning.

These features are already available in advanced markets.

According to a notification dated September 16, issued by the wireless planning and coordination wing of the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology, the government has de-licenced use of devices or wireless microphones in the frequency bands of 36-38 MHz, 433-434.79 MHz, 302-351 kHz and 76-77 GHz.

Source: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/...w/49084107.cms

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

A truly welcome move.

I'm equally surprised that Maruti Suzuki did the lobbying for this pioneering safety move. AEB could give the Baleno a 5-star rating in Europe compared to India, but I'm surprised MSIL is looking at introducing Autonomous braking and adaptive cruise control in the Indian market as well.

After AMT, the mild hibrid SHVS, talks of the boosterjet engine and now this- this is pure aggression from Maruti Suzuki as never seen before!

[GTO]

For additional reading, here's the older (and now closed) thread - link.

[Mohan Mathew A]

Originally Posted by CrAzY dRiVeR

A truly welcome move.

I'm equally surprised that Maruti Suzuki did the lobbying for this pioneering safety move. !

What could also have influenced Maruti's decision to lobby for it is the fact that without these frequencies being delicensed they couldn't even test these features for export models thereby limiting their ability to act as an export hub in the long term

Anyway a truly welcome move by the government albeit much delayed.

[audioholic]

We were discussing this issue at office yesterday and there was a hearsay speak of this news. Working on driver assistance systems, I was happy to hear this since these features werent allowed to be used in India all the while. Now that it is free to use, we can see at least the premium car manufacturers getting in more functionality in the cars sold instead of depriving customers of the functions. Whether or not these can be used is a question that many can ask, but its always good to have, especially when the customers are paying a price for such cars coming with DAS.

[frewper]

Does this mean that the S-class radar guided cruise control, can now be enabled in India. Does any one know on what frequency the S class radar works on? Its a very positive step by the Indian government. Atleast it shows that they are talking safety seriously now.

AEB is very cheap, not expensive at all. You can find it even in the budget cars in the UK. They have even made it compulsory over there. Even the insurance prices drop if the car is equipped with AEB. Will be nice to see if even our sub 5-lakh cars get it. (Atleast as an option).

[sourav9385]

Sweet! A excellent move by the largest mover of cars in India.

That being said, Autonomous Emergency Braking? In India? Now that is something I genuinely look forward to! There are multiple versions of the same concept that have been developed so far, as far as I know. BMW calls it: Pedestrian Warning & City brake Activation, Audi calls it: Pre Sense Front, Mercedes calls it: Collision Prevention Braking/Assist if I remember correctly.

And, they all talk about the same thing, roughly:
1. Alert driver for collision with pedestrians/accidents about to happen, depending on distance from car & current speed, using haptic/auditory notifications.
2. Pre-load brakes for faster action & deployment in case driver applies them.
3. If collision is imminent, & driver is non responsive, apply the brakes fully.

Now, given this condition that the car must maintain a minimum safe distance from the vehicle ahead at a particular speed, how will this ever work in India!! Given our Brownian motion traffic and 95% of the population not adhering to the concept known as safe distance, I'll be actually amazed if this is pulled off in the near future.

I can only imagine the bloke who got a car fitted with this sitting in the middle of traffic, trying to get out of everyone's way, but the car just refuses to move as the tolerances are way too low and the brakes are always on, all the time!!

[nivatakavacha]

Originally Posted by sourav9385

I can only imagine the bloke who got a car fitted with this sitting in the middle of traffic, trying to get out of everyone's way, but the car just refuses to move as the tolerances are way too low and the brakes are always on, all the time!!

Super comment! I almost imagined the scene in my mind and started laughing.

As i've always maintained; for any new tech to work like the driverless car tech, they need to test it and perfect it in our indian conditions

By the way, Sourav, your ownership review of your Elite i20 was fabulous; really well written.

[Harneet.S]

Originally Posted by sourav9385

That being said, Autonomous Emergency Braking? In India?

AFAIK Volvos are equipped with this in India already. I think they have a different hardware setup that doesn't use these now-delicensed frequencies to work.

I took a test-drive of an S-60 before I finalized on our current car. I was negotiating a left turn while exiting a round-about. Because of the Indian driver sixth sense, which we all have, we know almost exactly when, once a car will (illegally) not give way to the car on the right goes by us, we start inching forward to start taking the left before another car comes in to do the same. The Volvo stopped dead in its tracks and the guy behind me honked like crazy. I was surprised and of course, switched it off to prevent paying due to being rear-ended at the next round-about.

On a side note, I asked if my W212-2 had the hardware for such a thing, but they said a new front grill and a camera needs to be placed in the IRVM for Distronic and active braking to work which should work on these frequencies. The India-spec cars do not have that and neither can they be activated for such.

[Sahil]

This is an excellent move! Now the German's can give us our money's worth by providing these options that are often standard fitments by omitted due to our past laws.
I hope this comes into effect immediately and we see these technologies being offered once cars soon enough. Given our traffic conditions and road manners it will be interesting to see how these radar based systems work here.

[sourav9385]

Originally Posted by Harneet.S

AFAIK Volvos are equipped with this in India already... The Volvo stopped dead in its tracks and the guy behind me honked like crazy. I was surprised and of course, switched it off to prevent paying due to being rear-ended at the next round-about..

Thanks for sharing that info mate!

I wasn't aware that Volvo sold cars with autonomous braking in India! No matter what technology they use, as long as it works, it goes to solidify their stance on safety.

That being said, the scenario you've shared is the exact same scenario that I dread will come to pass, if & when autonomous braking is implemented in India across majority of cars being sold. Even if it becomes standard across all cars, I'm sure some local jugaad shop will figure out a way to either disable the system, or turn it off entirely! Such is the way with us Indians

[sandeepmdas]

What a pleasant surprise, kudos to MSIL!

Will they rewrite the script? Will they become India's safest and most technologically innovative marque? Will they set benchmarks for everything related to passenger safety? Will they bask in glory?

Let's hope and pray they will.

Originally Posted by sourav9385

I can only imagine the bloke who got a car fitted with this sitting in the middle of traffic, trying to get out of everyone's way, but the car just refuses to move as the tolerances are way too low and the brakes are always on, all the time!!

Lol, the gates are now open for the Europeans to precision-tune their system and inter-vehicle whatever down to centimeters. I am sure Volvo will be thinking in millimeter-terms....

[audioholic]

Autonomous driving is something that might never happen in our country. Very difficult to implement it in our conditions. The system will give up and will request driver intervention.

Originally Posted by frewper

Does this mean that the S-class radar guided cruise control, can now be enabled in India. Does any one know on what frequency the S class radar works on? :

It works on the 76-77GHz band which has been allowed now. The feature can be enabled but it will require a lot of hardware changes for the Indian markets. Distronic plus uses three different types of radar none of which are installed in the Indian cars.

Originally Posted by sourav9385

S

And, they all talk about the same thing, roughly:
1. Alert driver for collision with pedestrians/accidents about to happen, depending on distance from car & current speed, using haptic/auditory notifications.
2. Pre-load brakes for faster action & deployment in case driver applies them.
3. If collision is imminent, & driver is non responsive, apply the brakes fully.

We can always implement the first level of escalation for Indian roads. Warning is always manageable compared to your car braking when its not required. You can switch it off too.

[BlueEyes]

so Volvo is first to make use of delicensed low frequencies in XC90 T8, no surprises there.

The Volvo XC90 T8 Excellence Plug-in Hybrid, which was launched last week, has given the Swedish carmaker a head-start in India on radar-based safety technology. The SUV boasts some unique features based on a frequency band of 76-77GHz. These include the adaptive cruise control, lane departure warning, blind-spot detection with cross-traffic alert, rear collision warning and park assist.
The Indian government de-licensed low-frequency bands for the automotive sector a few months ago. They are in the range of 36-38MHz, 433-434.79MHz, 302-351kHz and 76-77GHz.

With its radar-frequency band fitting perfectly in the list of de-licensed frequencies, Volvo India has only set the trend. It is now looking forward to riding the tide and introducing similar features in its S90 sedan slated to hit the Indian roads this festive season.

Source

[AutoNoob]

Originally Posted by Mohan Mathew A

What could also have influenced Maruti's decision to lobby for it is the fact that without these frequencies being delicensed they couldn't even test these features for export models thereby limiting their ability to act as an export hub in the long term

I don't think that this was the limitation at all. The EU spec Baleno already has Radar-based active brake assist. I am not sure which frequency band it operates. So, the vehicles might have been tested in Japan by Suzuki or somewhere else.

Suzuki Baleno Germany Feature List : http://auto.suzuki.de/suzuki-modelle...no-ausstattung ; under Sicherheitsausstattung (Safety Equipment) --> Radargestützte aktive Bremsunterstützung (Radar-based active brake assist)

Anyway this is a positive outcome. My only worry is how to develop/ import/ inject discipline into road users.


My bad: I missed the year of the comment, you posted it last year.