India and Sweden to establish platform for innovation on traffic safety
All the leading institutes with proficiency and companies in safety have come together to form the Sweden-India Transport Innovation & Safety Platform (SITIS) . It’s a long-term platform for innovation and a centre for excellence on traffic safety research
The SITIS partnership is aimed at building deeper understanding of traffic safety in India and provide insights into the core challenges facing many fast-growing economies with similar challenges and their potential solutions. This will provide a unique ability to inform and evaluate policy and technology priorities.
Members of this platform:
Members of this platform are companies and institutes who lead in the safety area in their respective domains. These include partners such as; Volvo Group, Autoliv, Ericsson, Manipal Hospitals, Altair, Saab and Tech Mahindra, as well as universities and research institutes; India Institute of Science (IISc),Transportation Research and Injury Prevention Program, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi (TRIPP, IITD),Chalmers University of Technology, RISE Research Institutes of Sweden; and the technical authorities ARAI, and the Swedish National Road and Transport Research Institute (VTI).
The platform will also engage the Vision Zero Academy at the Swedish Transport Administration and Niti Aayog. SITIS has already embarked upon its first project which will now be the first example of a concrete bilateral collaboration between India and Sweden – “Safe and Secure Transport corridors in India”.
The partnership will leverage the potential of big data, AI and deep learning in a transport system context and create broad and scalable safety data analytics assets, as well as establish test beds and capacity to develop, test and deploy safety solutions. The platform will place high focus on smart and affordable safe and secure connectivity solutions by deploying the latest technologies in connectivity and co-operative and intelligent transport systems.
The WHO estimates more than 150 000 deaths per year on roads in India and notes that progress has stagnated in Sweden. At the same time there is great potential provided by the new technology paradigms: connectivity, electromobility, automation, and digitization and AI – where India stand to leap frog in implementing effective technology and system-level measures to improve traffic safety.