National Automotive test tracks (NATRAX) is a world-class automotive proving ground set up under the National Automotive Board (NAB), under the Ministry of Heavy Industries, Government of India, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on June 08, 2023, with TiHAN, IIT Hyderabad, to collaborate in the areas of autonomous navigation testing facilities. The collaboration aims at upskilling human resources in the field via collaboration with industry to work in automated driving utilizing the technical expertise and infrastructure, Training and capacity-building programs & Imparting advanced skills and mentoring as per the requirement of the Automotive Industry in the field of ADAS.

Expressing delight on occasion, Prof B S Murty, Director, IITH, said, “Collaboration between TiHAN-IITH and NATRAX is a magnificent event that has started a long-term relationship between the organizations. Inventing and Innovating in Technology for Humanity is the motto of IITH, and TiHAN, founded to foster initiatives linked to autonomous navigation, is a feather in IITH's crown. The first of its kind in the country, TiHAN Testbed is a cutting-edge facility for testing and certifying various use cases for autonomous vehicles. It will be a game-changer for both TiHAN and NATRAX to grow together and make India ‘Atmavirbhar’.”

Dr Manish Jaiswal, Director, NATRAX, expressed enthusiasm for this important partnership, stating, "Our collaboration with TiHAN, IIT Hyderabad marks a significant start, which will eventually bring together vehicle testing expertise of NATRAX and Research and Technology Expertise of IIT Hyderabad to bring innovations and solutions for the industry in all emerging areas of Automotive Technology. The Partnership has certainly opened avenues for endless possibilities to collaborate and create solutions for various existing and upcoming challenges of the automotive industry and the larger mobility ecosystem.”

Discussing the plan to take collaboration forward, Prof P Rajalakshmi, Project Director, TiHAN-IITH, said, “TiHAN at IITH is working towards the vision of being the destination of next-generation mobility solutions providing a collaborative research platform for academia, industry, and R&D labs at both national and international levels. Future collaborative works between NATRAX and TiHAN-IITH include webinars, training, and capacity building programs along with joint collaborations for excelling in the development of testing facilities for automated driving systems.”