As India progresses rapidly towards smarter mobility, the integration of AI into road safety enforcement and accident analysis is reshaping strategies to ensure safer journeys. Mercedes-Benz Research and Development India (MBRDI), which is the largest research and development centre for the luxury carmaker outside of Germany, plays a key role in the development of technologies like connected, autonomous, and electric in the world of mobility. MBRDI’s Bengaluru facility is pioneering technologies tailored for India’s diverse road and traffic conditions. Manu Saale, MD & CEO at MBRDI speaks to Sudhir Chowdhary on how the R&D teams are infusing Indian innovation into every Mercedes-Benz car globally. Excerpts:
How is MBRDI leveraging the talent pool in India?
MBRDI has established itself as the digital hub for Mercedes-Benz’s global accident research, playing a crucial role in advancing safety technologies worldwide. Over the past decade, our teams have honed deep expertise in accident reconstruction, data analytics, and anonymisation, which helps evaluate the effectiveness of safety systems in diverse road conditions.
Our team’s comprehensive investigation into 62 critical accident cases, including the first EQS accident investigation, underscores the team’s expertise in safety technologies. Tools such as deep-learning-based image anonymisation (achieving over 80% accuracy), Python-driven analytics, smart glasses, and sophisticated 3D scanning solutions further empower the team to seamlessly collaborate with our global counterparts. By comparing accident data, the team gains insights into typical accident and deformation patterns, aiding the development of more effective protection systems and enhancing the safety of future Mercedes-Benz vehicle models.
Integrating local insights with digital capabilities, the Indian unit empowers the design and improvement of global occupant protection systems. Since 2012, we have been supporting the headquarters in Germany in co-creating ADAS (Advanced Driver Assistance Systems) features for the global market which are critical in driving active safety.
How does predictive analytics enhance road safety?
India’s road conditions are one of the most complex, marked by mixed traffic patterns, inconsistent infrastructure, and highly variable driver behaviour. Our Accident Research team in India addresses these challenges through a robust, data-driven approach rooted in predictive analytics and real-time diagnostics. Our teams analyse anonymised accident data from Indian roads to identify patterns in crash severity and deformation profiles. These insights help pinpoint recurring risk factors, including aspects specific to local environments, which are then used to inform the development and fine-tuning of safety systems.
The data from our research helps refine ADAS to respond intuitively to regional driving behaviours and road environments. Recognising that research must be translated, we are developing new India-specific safety enhancements and actively working to adapt active safety systems to local roads and traffic behaviour, observing instances like Active Brake Assist interventions in critical situations. This reflects a shift to proactive crash prevention, aiming to anticipate and eliminate risks, ultimately striving for zero-accident mobility.
Do you engage with academia for innovative ideas?
Achieving road safety transformation requires a holistic, multi-pronged approach. Along with technology advancements, it necessitates cohesive policy frameworks, behavioural change, and robust cross-sector collaboration that cater to both local conditions and global applications.
The SAFE ROADS initiative, launched in 2015, is a collaborative platform that brings together the ecosystem of policymakers, academia, industry experts, NGOs, and students. It provides valuable insights into road engineering, identifying gaps and opportunities for systemic improvement. Initiatives like the student ideathon also engage academia in developing technology ideas for road safety. For instance, a team from IIT Madras presented an idea for LiDAR-based terrain drop-off detection for ADAS.
Tell us about the work on software-defined vehicles.
We see the transformation of the automotive industry into software-defined vehicles (SDVs), where the new Mercedes Modular Architecture (MMA) represents the arrival of the software car. This requires a marriage of digital engineering from India with mechanical engineering from Germany, leveraging India’s digital talent landscape and capabilities to redefine the car. The digital engineering tailwinds that the product needs are coming out of India through our offices in Pune and Bengaluru. The automotive industry is at an inflection point where the immense growth of software plays perfectly to India’s digital strengths, allowing us to contribute to virtually every product globally.