Chennai: Indian Institute of Technology Madras is collaborating with Renault Nissan Technology and Business Centre India Pvt Ltd. (RNTBCI) to reduce road accidents fatalities in Chennai and neighbouring districts through two projects. This initiative is aligned with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (SDG).

The Connected Intelligent Urban Transportation Lab at IIT Madras will develop innovative, technology and data-driven solutions to improve road safety.

RNTBCI has contributed to IIT Madras as part of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). The MoU for the same was signed on April 2, 2022 by Prof. Mahesh Panchagnula, Dean (Alumni and Corporate Relations), IIT Madras and Mr. Debashis Neogi, Managing Director, Renault Nissan Technology and Business Centre India Pvt Ltd (RNTBCI) in the presence of Mr. Natarajasundaram Balasubramanian, Vice president, RNTBCI.

A year-long hackathon named ‘Hackcidents’ will be conducted and the best ideas on Road Safety and Accident Prevention will be implemented. Centre For Innovation, a voluntary student body at IIT Madras, will conduct the hackathon.

The first project’s aim is to improve public safety with a particular focus on reducing fatal accidents involving public transit buses in Chennai.

Among the fatal accidents in Chennai in 2019, over 10 per cent were caused by buses. This fraction is twice the number reported across the country. Over 80 fatalities involved public transit buses in 2019. Further, close to 100 accidents resulted in grievous injuries. Besides the burden on the public transit agency in the form of a high pay out against claims, these accidents have large social costs.

The IIT Madras project proposes the use of state-of-the-art sensors and data collection techniques for better understanding the root causes leading to bus accidents and propose innovative ways to significantly reduce them.

The second project under this Initiative will focus on using low-cost innovative technology to prevent accidents in Chennai, Kanchipuram, Tiruvallur and Chengalpattu.

Tamil Nadu has performed exceedingly well among States in the country in reducing road accident fatalities in the last few years. Though Tamil Nadu as a state had seen improvements between 2017 and 2019, Chennai city registered an upward trend till 2019. Chennai registered 1,252 fatalities in 2019 which is 50 per cent more than the number in 2015 and 100 per cent more than the number reported in 2010.

Being a large metropolitan region, the challenges faced by Chennai are unique and complex. A large proportion of severe and fatal accidents involve vulnerable road users – pedestrians, bicyclists, and two-wheeler riders. This project proposes to address the challenge of reducing accidents in the Chennai Mega Region by leveraging the innovative capabilities of students and the start-up community.

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