Industries and Information Technology Minister D. Sridhar Babu with IT-H director B.S. Murthy during a test drive of a driverless vehicle in IIT-H in Sangareddy on Monday.
| Photo Credit: MOHD ARIF
Researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology Hyderabad (IIT-H) unveiled their driverless vehicles on Monday. The vehicles have been designed to navigate even in challenging traffic conditions in India.
Industries and Information Technology Minister D. Sridhar Babu along with TPCC working president T. Jagga Reddy and IIT-H director B.S. Murthy experienced the driverless car when they went on a test-drive during the launch.
Developed by the Technology Innovation Hub on Autonomous Navigation (TiHAN) at IIT-H, the researchers highlighted that these vehicles are on par with similar technologies developed abroad. Professor P. Rajalakshmi, the Project Director, shared that the developers had gathered over 4,000 km of traffic data from Indian roads, which was uploaded to the cloud. This data enables the vehicles to recognise traffic signals, signs and obstacles on the road.
Minister Sridhar Babu expressed pride in the research, calling it a significant achievement for both IIT Hyderabad and Telangana. After the test drive, he remarked that the vehicles were comparable to those he experienced in California during a recent visit to the United States as part of the Telangana government’s delegation with Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy.
The Minister also announced that the State government plans to appoint the IIT-H Director to the Board of Skill University as part of its commitment to advancing technology and equipping students with emerging skills. Additionally, he revealed that the government would invest ₹2,400 crore in upgrading 65 Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) across the State.
