Maruti Suzuki Confirms ADAS Features For India, Will Be Specially Tuned For Our Road Conditions

Quick Highlights 

• Maruti Suzuki confirms it is working on ADAS for its India models. 
• The system will be tuned according to our road conditions. 
• It also said it can’t use the same system that’s used in Japanese models. 
• eVX is likely to be the first Maruti car to get ADAS.

Maruti Suzuki has confirmed that it is working on Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) features for its models for the Indian market at a technology meeting held by Suzuki Motor Corporation in Japan. The carmaker has confirmed that it’s working on this safety tech and has added that it will be tuned according to our road conditions. 

Maruti Suzuki might be late to the party when it comes to introducing ADAS in its vehicles in India. But the carmaker has a fair point when it comes to the reason for delay. It said, “the unique traffic conditions and congestion make it difficult to simply apply Japanese solutions.  Leveraging Suzuki's 40 years of experience in India, we plan to develop and offer ADAS that performs well even in the congested streets of Indian cities.”

A fair point, in our opinion, considering ADAS in our roads needs a lot of training for it to work properly. It needs to identify all kinds of two-wheelers, three-wheelers, unofficial three-wheelers (tri-cycles and unlit vehicles), four-wheelers, tractors, trucks and buses plying on our roads, sometimes without the mandatory lighting setup. India is also a dusty and dirty country, where the camera and radar (two important components in ADAS) need to work properly regardless of the extreme conditions of our roads. 

Then there’s the infrastructure and the driving that itself is more than a challenge to attack. These include unmarked lanes and less than perfect road disciplines. And lastly, an India-spec ADAS needs to identify any person wearing any sort of clothing, including kurtas, sarees and dhotis. 

Cutting to the chase, manufacturers offering this feature on our road needs to ensure the system is more than up to its job to detect literally any sort of obstacle on the road. And despite the delay of introducing this feature, which is becoming more common day by day, we feel it’s fair that Maruti is working on an India-specific ADAS suite for its models, instead of just offering the feature for the ‘sake of it.’

A point to note is that Maruti has already started testing its ADAS on our shores. The new-gen Swift, before launch, was spotted with a radar and Blind Spot Monitoring System, indicating that work has already begun. This could also mean that ADAS might not be exclusive to bigger cars in the Maruti range.

The first Maruti car that’s expected to come with ADAS on our shores could be the eVX electric SUV, which is currently in its testing phase. Set for launch sometime in 2025, the eVX is a Grand Vitara-sized electric SUV and will be its first all-electric vehicle for our market. For more details about the Maruti Suzuki eVX, check out this report.

Other future Maruti cars that could get ADAS are the Grand Vitara and upcoming Grand Vitara-based 7-seater.