In a major step toward India's autonomous mobility future, a team from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Hyderabad has developed and successfully tested a driverless vehicle on its campus—logging over 10,000 passenger rides without a single accident.
The innovation comes from the Technology Innovation Hub on Autonomous Navigation (TiHAN) at IIT Hyderabad, where researchers are building India-specific solutions for both aerial and ground-based autonomous navigation systems.
“We are working on autonomous navigation tailored to Indian conditions—particularly the infrastructure challenges on roads,” said Santhosh Reddy, Executive Officer of TiHAN, in an interview with PTI.
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The AI-powered vehicle has been operational within the IIT-H campus for over 18 months, safely transporting students, faculty, and visitors across regular roads inside the institute. While it is not yet deployed on public roads, the pilot has generated positive feedback and interest for broader applications in controlled environments like airports, warehouses, and large educational or industrial campuses.
Currently, a human operator is present in the vehicle only as a safety precaution and does not control its navigation. The system—called an "autonomous navigation stack"—is robust across all weather conditions and adaptable to various vehicle types, including electric and internal combustion engines.
Reddy emphasized that the team's focus has been on gradually adding safety features and refining the system rather than rushing toward commercialization. The ultimate goal is to eliminate the need for a safety driver altogether and enhance the stack to meet industry-grade requirements.
The vehicle has also been demonstrated at various locations beyond the campus, and the team is now exploring potential industry partnerships to scale and eventually commercialize the technology.
With this achievement, IIT Hyderabad’s TiHAN is positioning itself at the forefront of India’s autonomous vehicle revolution, offering hope that smart, self-driving mobility may soon become a reality across the country.
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