[dipdawiz]

At this moment India is not ready for ADAS, specially the ones that control the vehicle. One day may be we would be there, but not now.

Just last week did a long drive for 1300km to and fro along NH 48, 50 and 52. All smooth highways and quite less traffic than normal, still could not engage cruise control for continuous 10 min. This time I could get continuous 10min because traffic was so less. But otherwise engaging the cruise control every 2 - 5 - 10 min makes it irritating to even use the feature. An adaptive cruise control may make this little more comfortable, but how many times we get those stretches of road where traffic volume is low enough and disciplined?

Tailgating is a culture here in city or on highway alike. In city I am always worried and observed that most of the time TATA ace, auto/delivery vehicles and some Indica taxi drivers brake at the end moment and stops without keeping space for even a person to cross properly. Now think if the auto/emergency breaking is one ADAS feature of car in front.

Then comes Schumachers of roads, who would cut you from side all the time, even on an empty highway.

Properly marked roads are increasing now a days, so lane keep feature may be used on those roads. But not sure how it would behave with all old markings still visible on roads which are wrong. In this trip noticed this in many places where old markings of diversions are still visible and kept as it is. And though NH are getting rid of speed breakers, but out of those still there, 50% would not be marked at all.

Advanced ADAS that controls the vehicle movement is more prone to false positive in Indian driving condition in >90% time. However I think some of the audio visual warning system like that of of lane departure, blind spot warning and similar systems assists a driver to a great extent.

[ulhas.ahirrao]

Rather than opinions, it would be great if we can understand from actual users. I mean unless you have used it, not sure how 'theoretically' saying yes or no is adding value!

Do they find it useful? Is it able to manage the Indian road condition? What are the specific issues faced?

[J4J]

I think India is not ready for ADAS. According to me, anything that could steer, accelerate or brake a moving vehicle is a strict NO because:

1. Many vehicles are not serviced properly. This could create a lot of issues when vehicles are fixed with "jugaad".
   
   
2. Even if all vehicles were to be serviced in authorised service centres. The service advisers are not competent enough to handle complex electronics. Even today, many cannot figure out basic electrical problems.
   
   
3. India lacks even the basic road manners and traffic signs.

[Hayek]

Voted Yes for this one. ADAS is a term for multiple systems, some of which are immediately useful in India (and perhaps should be mandated) and others are useful in select situations.

Automatic Emergency Braking is something I think makes immense sense - and perhaps should be mandated for all new vehicles within the next 24-36 months. People talk of sudden braking leading to rear ending - but if you rear end someone, it is YOUR FAULT - 100% of the time. People have the right to stop suddenly to avoid a crash.

Lane Keep Assist - less important because at least in Bombay and Maharashtra, one does not have lane markings on most roads including highways and expressways. But in roads with these systems in place, this is very useful as well

Adaptive Cruise Control - would work very well on roads like the Bombay Pune expressway. Have used it only on German autobahns, but it works very well and can help make driving long distances much easier. And as roads such as the new Bombay Delhi and Bombay Nagpur expressways get ready, this will become even more useful.

[narayans80]

Originally Posted by dipdawiz

Just last week did a long drive for 1300km to and fro along NH 48, 50 and 52. All smooth highways and quite less traffic than normal, still could not engage cruise control for continuous 10 min. This time I could get continuous 10min because traffic was so less. But otherwise engaging the cruise control every 2 - 5 - 10 min makes it irritating to even use the feature.

The highways you mention are my prime candidates for cruise control. 10 minutes is pretty decent. I use cancel-negotiate-reset all the time.

Apart from Hyderbad ORR where I've stayed on CC Vijayawada to Bombay exit for 65 minutes, 10-20 minutes at a stretch is par especially if you are setting speeds > 100 km/h.

I find getting that 5 or 10 minute rest for right leg very useful in long hauls.

If you want to be on cruise for longer durations, set at 80-90s you probably would do toll-to-toll.

[BlackPearl]

Originally Posted by Hayek

Adaptive Cruise Control - would work very well on roads like the Bombay Pune expressway. Have used it only on German autobahns, but it works very well and can help make driving long distances much easier. And as roads such as the new Bombay Delhi and Bombay Nagpur expressways get ready, this will become even more useful.

I have a very different view about cruise control. Cruise control should be banned. Adaptive control should have a maximum speed limit of say 45 or 50 kpmh to be used in low speed areas and that too it should be intelligent enough to switch off when encountering heavy traffic. Above that speed the driver should be fully concentrating on braking, accelerating, steering inputs and everything else needed for driving a vehicle. I believe if one needs cruise control to drive on the highways, he/she does not like driving and would be better off chauffeur driven by a professional driver.
I truly believe that cruise control makes a driver too comfortable and reduces alertness level. It also leads to slower reaction times in the event of sudden changes in the surrounding.

[Meph1st0]

I have voted yes.

This question can actually go both ways 'Is India ready for ADAS' and 'Is ADAS ready for India' (due to the chaotic and unpredictable nature of traffic).

I have voted yes because the ADAS features offered by XUV700/MG Astor are very much usable in India and prevent accidents. Autonomous Emergency Braking/ Collision warning can be a lifesaver, especially at night since we have trucks traveling without any functional rear lights. Front cross-traffic alerts are very useful-If animal/person/vehicle is trying to cross the road and can potentially come in the way, radar can detect it much before the driver, and this is very helpful at night. Lane keeps assist is very useful since many people are used to using at least two lanes for taking a simple curve. Blindspot assist helps when someone wants to switch lanes. Drowsiness/driver fatigue detection is another very useful feature.

What one must know that these are Level 2 ADAS features and not confuse this with Autonomous driving (Level 5 where the steering wheel is optional) and know the limitations and more importantly, know where/how they can fail.

[Sudeep Lakhotia]

As per a 2014 United Nations report, with 356 million 10-24-year-olds, India has the world’s largest youth population.

Keeping this in mind we have to understand that in this age and time Indians cannot and do not want to be behind any other nation in terms of technological advances whether it be in automotive or in any other sector. We really cannot be pessimistic about such advances, yes we are a lot behind other nations in regards to driving manners and there is an obvious lack of strict driving license rules but that does not change the fact that we have to at par with other nations.

Indian highways in the next decade or so will be at par with west and by that time we need to get used to 130kmph speeds and tech such as ADAS. A lot of vehicles by the end of decade will be EV's which will have such tech and it's better we start adopting it rather than abhorring. ADAS will certainly learn itself over time and will be very useful in certain conditions.
We need to understand India is a country of 135 crores, we really cannot compare ourselves with western nations which only have a fraction of our population. One or the other region will always be behind in road quality and driving manners does that mean the rest of the country shall wait till each and every region is ready and prepared? This can easily take around 2 decades if not more, and do we want to wait for twenty years for tech like ADAS?

That being said, we definitely cannot live in denial and need a much stricter driving license test. India is the country with most youth, we have a lot of potential, this moment is ours and we have to seize it. There's no point in only and always undermining ourselves.

[Sumer]

Can't vote but I am against Autonomous Driving on our roads. No civic sense among many road users, blatant disregard for traffic rules, unmarked speed breakers, potholes, many a times missing road markings are one side of the story. I'm also afraid some drivers will become complacent and not give as much attention to the road as they should, trusting the system blindly, potentially leading to accidents. We are not ready for such a system and vice versa

[Rajeevraj]

Am currently working in this field. So a few comments. The range of an ADAS system features is pretty wide. In general, there are 5 levels of what is called the 'Path to Autonomous Driving' and ADAS systems obviously fall under that.

A basic representation of the 5 Levels given below. There are slight variants that come from different organizations, but in general these are the accepted levels to Autonomous Driving

Source: Levels of AD

Level 0: No Automation — Zero autonomy; the driver performs all the driving, but the vehicle can aid with blind spot detection, forward collision warnings and lane departure warnings.

Level 1: Driver Assistance — The vehicle may have some active driving assist features, but the driver is still in charge. Such assist features available in today’s vehicles include adaptive cruise control, automatic emergency braking and lane keeping.

Level 2: Partial Automation — The driver still must be alert and monitor the environment at all times, but driving assist features that control acceleration, braking and steering may work together in unison so the driver does not need to provide any input in certain situations. Such automated functions available today include self-parking and traffic jam assist (stop-and-go traffic driving).

Level 3: Conditional Automation — The vehicle can itself perform all aspects of the driving task under some circumstances, but the human driver must always be ready to take control at all times within a specified notice period. In all other circumstances, the human performs the driving.

Level 4: High Automation — This is a self-driving vehicle. But it still has a driver’s seat and all the regular controls. Though the vehicle can drive and “see” all on its own, circumstances such as geographic area, road conditions or local laws might require the person in the driver’s seat to take over.

Level 5: Full Automation — The vehicle is capable of performing all driving functions under all environmental conditions and can operate without humans inside. The human occupants are passengers and need never be involved in driving. A steering wheel is optional in this vehicle.

Now coming to the question of the thread- Is India ready for ADAS? For that, we need to understand which Level of ADAS is coming in. Looking at the chart above, vehicles with ADAS are pretty much entering at level 1 which is what we also call 'Active Safety Systems' which means that the vehicle can automatically do certain tasks- be it AEB or Lane Keep Assist. In addition, some of the higher end vehicles are actually closer to Level 2.

We are actually skipping level 0 where an ADAS system gives only relevant warnings (Forward Collision, Lane Departure, Headway Monitoring) but the action is completely on the driver-Which is also called as passive safety systems.

Personally in my view, what is needed for India is a large scale enablement of Level 0 or passive safety systems which help warn the drivers. Such systems would work well in the Indian conditions. Passive safety systems have an advantage that they can also being added on as an after market fitment for existing vehicles on the road which enables familiarity to such systems to a wider driver community in a shorter time. Over a period of time once the driving community gets comfortable to passive ADAS systems and our infra keeps getting better, maybe there is a case for active ADAS systems.

Overall, considering India has 12% of the accident fatalities world wide, 55 accidents and 17 deaths every hour- so any system that helps the driver reduce and prevent accidents would definitely be critical. The path towards that should be a step by step enablement of the technology.

[Nalin1]

If I ever get a chance to drive a car with all these ADAS or anything that makes a car do something on its own, I will disable all those before I even start moving .

And if there is no option to disable, I will stay away from the driver's seat and not even consider owning.

I am obviously not talking about the essential ones like ABS, EBD, BA etc.

These high end technologies are designed for vehicles, pedestrians and objects on roads.

Not for circus on roads .

[shancz]

Originally Posted by Rajeevraj

Personally in my view, what is needed for India is a large scale enablement of Level 0 or passive safety systems which help warn the drivers. Over a period of time once the driving community gets comfortable to passive ADAS systems and our infra keeps getting better, maybe there is a case for active ADAS systems.
The path towards that should be a step by step enablement of the technology.

Well put and IMO this is how it should be done.
An intended hover at Level 0, like you said, will bring the focus on the much needed education about driving and road safety which unfortunately has taken a back seat for decades resulting in the crash statistics we see today.
Even with the current XUV700 TDs videos I can feel the trend shifting towards blaming the vehicle for its "erratic" behaviour rather than ponder for a second on their "brilliant" driving which caused the protections to trigger in the first place.
This is counterproductive to a well intended move, IMHO.

PS : Or maybe they've concluded that the fastest way to reduce crashes is to take control away from the drivers ASAP and are gunning for Level 5

Originally Posted by BlackPearl

I truly believe that cruise control makes a driver too comfortable and reduces alertness level. It also leads to slower reaction times in the event of sudden changes in the surrounding.

Completely agree, I used it once in an Octavia on the arrow straight roads of UAE, heading into direct sunshine and at some point of time I felt that I wasn't very aware of the surroundings although I was looking at them. Suspecting a pre doze-off state immediately disconnected the cruise control, the alertness became as usual, had a coffee and no issues after that but also didn't use the cruise control after that.
With an automatic and cruise set on highways, there's nothing much to do and its very easy to dose off.

[driven646]

No, we're not - we don't have the driving discipline for thede technologies, I foresee a few massive shunts due to the Mahindra's auto braking and getting rear ended.

I live in the hills and constantly need to be careful of tourists not following basic hill driving rules of 'stay on the left, never overtake on a blind curve'

Auto braking etc is going to be a disaster.

[Tanmay007]

As many have correctly pointed out ADAS is a whole host of systems, it's not necessary for all of them to be applicable to be considered as *India ready*.

AEB and ACC are both 100% useful on Indian expressways, there is no question about it. Those who use basic cruise control regularly on highways will understand this.

In this day and age where people regularly use their phones/text while driving, AEB or as Rajeevraj said at least level 0 based warning systems should be made mandatory.

Our transport minister even talked about making these systems mandatory way back in 2018.

India will never be ready for any advanced driving systems if we keep being skeptical, the way ML works is by going through thousands of hours of video footage for training which is then tagged/classified. It is without a doubt that fully capable L2/L3 systems will be demanded by consumers in the future, the only way to prepare for this is to start having basic sensors in right now and start gathering data. With enough training the system can outperform humans even in congested cities in India, it is a matter of *when* not if.

As for the XUV 700, it is capable of braking, accelerating and steering. So by definition it is not L0 or L1, it is a proper L2 system.

Now is a better time than any to start having radars, lidars, camera or other sensors in mass market cars and let the tech improve gradually. Next step is to have homegrown brands collect radar/camera data for deep learning and training neural network similar to what Tesla/Comma does.

[manishk123]

Successfully driving with ADAS is not something i forsee for the near future in India.

I have BMW G30 with a self parking feature, barely has there ever been an opportunity for me to use it because of our heavily congested and cramped conditions.

Whats more the car's sensors keep jamming hard on the brakes whenever they detect anyone very close to the vehicle, which with our 125cr desh vasis, is a very common occurrence.