For a very long time, vehicular safety took a back seat in the cars and SUVs sold in India. Only recently has customer awareness grown regarding vehicular safety. India got its dedicated crash safety testing facility on October 1, 2023 in the form of Bharat NCAP, which is set to spawn a second instalment with a more stringent testing protocol.

Bharat NCAP 2.0 Shifting Focus On ADAS

Launched with the intention of testing crash safety parameters of new cars, Bharat NCAP has commenced operations at the fag end of CY2023. This voluntary programme to asses crash performance of a car has crash tested vehicles like Tata Harrier, Safari, Curvv, Curvv EV, Nexon, Nexon EV, Citroen Basalt, Hyundai Tucson, Skoda Kylaq, Mahindra Thar Roxx,BE 6 and XEV 9e.

The company is now considering updating its crash testing protocols to incorporate assessment of active safety tech including ADAS. Termed Bharat NCAP 2.0, the new testing protocols will be implemented in the year 2027 after setting up a proper testing facility near Pune by ARAI.

Ujjwala Karla, Deputy Director at Automotive Research Association of India (ARAI), mentions that there are discussions ongoing about addressing India-specific use cases better with Bharat NCAP 2.0 crash testing protocols. He further expressed that both ADAS systems and ADAS testing have to be localized to achieve objectives of providing safer mobility to Indian car buyers.

What to expect?

ARAI is currently on the verge of developing an ADAS testing facility on an 18-acre land near Pune. Current Bharat NCAP crash testing protocols are based on Global NCAP protocols. There is a significant push to Indianise Bharat NCAP agency. Also, AIS 185 standard covering ADAS features, might undergo revision to incorporate vulnerable road users category as well.

With 4.8 lakh road accidents leading to 1.72 lakh fatalities were recorded in India in the calendar year 2023. Most of these (around 80% estimated) accidents are caused by driver errors. Active safety systems like ADAS help reduce these accidents, raising the call for India-specific use cases and also reducing the prices of ADAS, making it more accessible to the masses.