Carmakers rev up models with Advanced Driver Assistance Systems for safety conscious Indians

“Safety and security (features) were not paramount for me from a buying decision standpoint. But now, it’s a very important parameter when I am purchasing a car,” Jha said.

Thanks to safety-conscious consumers like Gupta and Jha, who have high disposable incomes and exposure to futuristic technology, vehicles with automated features are seeing unprecedented adoption.

“From an experience perspective, I see ADAS features being a perfect fit for the Indian roads because it gives convenience to our customers and adds to the safety of the occupants in the car,” Gaurav Gupta, Deputy Managing Director, MG Motor India, said.

“An informal survey that was conducted by us figured that more than 50 percent of the respondents are actually looking forward to technologies which add to both safety and convenience and ADAS in particular,” he said.

Some of the prominent Level 2 features offered by carmakers are mentioned below:

Dissecting the market

While autonomous driving Levels 3 and 4 are pervasive in international markets, the domestic passenger vehicle market is seeing an uptake of Levels 2 and 2+, especially for vehicles priced at Rs 10 lakh and above.

As per 6Wresearch, a global market research and consulting firm, the penetration of ADAS in the domestic passenger vehicle market last year stood at around 3.4 percent and is inching upwards to 4.2 percent by 2023-end. The proportion of ADAS-enabled cars is expected to triple to 12.4 percent by 2030. Furthermore, the penetration of ADAS passenger cars in India was less than 4 percent in 2022, but it is expected to grow up to 7-8 percent during 2022-28, as per TechSci Research

“The adoption of ADAS in India is driven by a growing focus on road safety, stringent government regulations and increasing urbanisation. ADAS features offer safety and convenience, making them attractive to commuters in congested cities,” said Rajjat Kharbanda, Director of research & Consulting at 6Wresearch.

According to Custom Market Insights (CMI), the size of the Indian ADAS is estimated at $2.12 billion in 2023 and is expected to reach $9.98 billion by 2032, a CAGR of 18.80 percent.

As per JATO Dynamics India, an automotive data intelligence firm, the maximum adoption of ADAS and connected technologies is currently seen in the premium and luxury segments of the passenger vehicle market. However, these technologies will become widely accessible and percolate to the mass-premium segment vehicles (Rs 10-20 lakh bracket) and lower segments by 2025, it said.

“The customers at present are not much aware of the brands that offer these features but in general safety awareness is increasing,” Ravi Bhatia, Managing Director, JATO Dynamics India, said. Like with all other technologies the ADAS is in the early stages, he said, adding that it will be some years when this becomes more pervasive.

Carmakers up the ante

As the awareness around vehicle safety and technology is increasing among customers, carmakers such as Hyundai Motor India Ltd (HMIL), MG Motor India, Kia India, Tata Motors, Mahindra and Mahindra (M&M), Honda Cars India Ltd (HCIL), Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM), etc., are focusing on bringing newer ADAS features in their latest offerings.

MG Motor India, which was the first company to bring this technology to the country, started offering ADAS (Level 1) in its Gloster Model in 2020. Now it offers this technology in the top-end trims of Hector (Level 2), ZS EV (Level 2) and Astor (Level 2) models.

On similar lines, M&M, which offers ADAS in top-end trim of XUV700, is now gearing up to extend this technology to Scorpio N, Thar and other premium SUVs. According to the company, a relatively high percentage of its over 1 lakh XUV700 customers have opted for the system.

A senior official of the company feels that this technology is actually “superbly relevant” for Indian conditions. Rajesh Jejurikar, ED-Auto and FES, M&M, recently told reporters, “The response to ADAS had surprised me. I personally interacted with many customers for whom ADAS is a very key buying factor. There were use cases that were coming alive which we had not anticipated. Today, that's one of the reasons why the highest end of XUV700 does so well.”

HCIL, which offers ADAS in Honda City and City e:HEV, claims that its City sedan is the most affordable ADAS equipped car in the market with V grade starting at Rs 12.45 lakh, ex-showroom. Its upcoming all-new Elevate will also be offered with this technology – Honda Sensing – to all future models in India.

“With more customers preferring a host of safety measures, more than 90 percent of Honda City sales are with ADAS, which is offered in 3 variants of Honda City V, VX and ZX,” Kunal Behl, Vice President – Marketing and Sales, Honda Cars India, said. The ADAS variant contributed nearly 60 percent of Elevate’s current bookings, he said.

TKM, which currently offers the Innova HyCross with ADAS Level 2 capabilities, said it is “actively listening” to the market and is studying the customer usage patterns of ADAS features across various vehicle segments to cater to “specific customer needs”.

“Even from the customer point of view, there is a growing trend of increased adoption of safety features across all vehicle segments. Notably, vehicles equipped with ADAS features on top grades are witnessing high customer acceptance,” said Atul Sood, Vice President of Sales, and Strategic Marketing at TKM.

HMIL offers its “SmartSense” ADAS suite in five models from Hyundai Venue and Venue N-Line, followed by Hyundai Verna, Tucson and all-electric Ioniq 5 (standard feature). While for Tucson, ADAS variants account for 87 percent of its overall model sales, the proportion for Hyundai Verna stands at 34 percent. The South Korean carmaker claims that Hyundai Venue is “India’s most affordable SUV” at Rs 12.44 lakh.

“We have seen a greater acceptance of models equipped with smart solutions such as connected-car technology, ADAS, etc, amongst our new-age tech-savvy customers who place maximum emphasis on convenience & safety. Aspirational customers in the 35-45 years age bracket are the biggest adopters of Hyundai products equipped with advanced safety features and connected car-technology,” Tarun Garg, COO, Hyundai Motor India, said.

Kia India, which started offering ADAS in its EV6, extended this technology to the recently launched facelifted Seltos midsize SUV.

“In other countries like South Korea, most of our products have ADAS Level 2 minimum. We introduced 17 functions on offer for the ADAS variant (the facelifted Seltos) instead of the standard 13 features,” Myung-Sik Sohn, Chief Sales & Business Officer, Kia India, told reporters recently in a media interaction.

Tata Motors also offers ADAS in its XZA+ (O) variant of Harrier and Safari. The company spokesperson in an emailed reply stated, “We have received a good response so far and we hope the momentum continues. As a company policy, we do not comment on future projections, product plans.”

Over the next 3-5 years, mass market penetration of basic ADAS features is expected, fuelled by government mandates regarding the use of certain ADAS features to enhance passenger safety, as per TechSci Research

Tata Technologies, a product engineering firm which provides ADAS solutions to several carmakers including sister entity Tata Motors, affirmed that ADAS Level 2 has now become a de facto in almost all the cars in the Rs 10,00,000 and above.

“Almost all the vehicles that we are working on today are asking for a minimum ADAS Level 2. As these features become common, OEMs will not be able to pass on all the additional costs to the customers. It's just a matter of 5 to 10 years when you will see the cost coming down drastically with the increase in volumes,” Shailesh Saraph, Executive Vice President and Global Head – Engineering, Research and Development, Tata Technologies, said.