Until now, the rules and regulations set by the government didn’t allow manufacturers to install radar-based safety features in cars in India but all that is soon going to change.
We are living in the 21st century where technology is evolving at a very fast rate. New and new systems are getting invented each day while existing technologies too are seeing huge upgrades. Vehicles are also getting implemented with new and better safety tech and most of these new vehicle safety features make use of advanced radar systems and networks to optimise performance. Driver assist systems, driverless cars, etc. are just some of the new systems that make use of radars.
There was a point in time when airbags and ABS were considered high-end features and were available only in premium vehicles but times have improved and even basic vehicles get these features now. According to the latest news, the Indian government is seriously considering the thought of lifting restrictions on radar technologies in cars. Systems that use Short Range Radar (SRR) technologies usually occupy 24-26.65 GHz and 76-81 GHz to communicate with other radars and the surroundings but the issue is that the Department of Telecommunications in India has reserved the spectrums of 24, 76 and 79 GHz and because of this regulation, car manufacturers find it hard to incorporate these new safety features in their vehicles in India.
Driver assist systems are a very useful way of preventing accidents by braking automatically if the driver fails to brake on time, or making lane changes if a driver fails to notice some obstruction and so on. These radar systems also perform better than cameras at detecting obstructions or people on roads since radars have a better viewing range.
Eberhard Kern, MD and CEO, Mercedes-Benz India, spoke to Nitin Gadkari, Union Government Minister of Transport recently and urged him to review restrictions on radar technologies. The minister gave a very positive reply and stated that we will take up the matter personally to improve road transport safety in the country. The way most citizens drive without any road manners and the rate at which accidents and casualties are increasing each year, we can only hope for these safety features to improve things here. Once the radar bands are de-licensed, we will see many manufacturers introducing modern safety tech in cars sold in India. Also the Mercedes S63 AMG can finally be launched then.
Source – AutocarIndia.com
