Leading Indian companies and institutes with expertise in safety have come together to form the Sweden-India Transport Innovation & Safety (SITIS) platform as a long-term platform for innovation and a centre for excellence on traffic safety research. The SITIS partnership will build a deeper understanding of traffic safety in India, and provide insights into the core challenges facing many fast-growing economies with similar challenges and their potential solutions. This will provide a unique ability to inform and evaluate policy and technology priorities.

Members of this platform are companies and institutes who lead in the safety area in their respective domains. These include partners such as; Volvo Group, Autoliv, Ericsson, Manipal Hospitals, Altair, Saab and Tech Mahindra, as well as universities and research institutes; India Institute of Science (IISc), Transportation Research and Injury Prevention Program, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi (TRIPP, IITD), Chalmers University of Technology, RISE Research Institutes of Sweden; and the technical authorities ARAI, and the Swedish National Road and Transport Research Institute (VTI). The platform will also engage the Vision Zero Academy at the Swedish Transport Administration and Niti Aayog.

SITIS has already embarked upon its first project which will be the first example of a concrete bilateral collaboration between India and Sweden – Safe and Secure Transport corridors in India.

The partnership has the unique ability to leverage the potential of big data, AI and deep learning in a transport system context and create broad and scalable safety data analytics assets, as well as establish testbeds and capacity to develop, test and deploy safety solutions. The platform will place high focus on smart and affordable safe and secure connectivity solutions by deploying the latest technologies in connectivity and co-operative and intelligent transport systems.

SITIS vision is “to leverage the know-how of India and Sweden to accelerate progress and deployment of safe and sustainable transport solutions and actionable policies, contributing to significant progress of Indian transport system”. The ambition is also to create a partnership that fosters innovation, develops competence and assets that creates the capacity to address complex challenges and make a significant impact. The platform aims to become a prominent proposal for applied research and innovation in the area of safe and sustainable transport.

The WHO estimates more than 150,000 deaths per year on roads in India and notes that progress has stagnated in Sweden. At the same time, there is great potential provided by the new technology paradigms: Connectivity, electro-mobility, automation, and digitisation and AI – where India stand to leap frog in implementing effective technology and system-level measures to improve traffic safety. Of course, this demands an integrated approach where mobilising stakeholders and implementing cost-effective measures is a key challenge. SITIS aims to achieve just that by bringing together organisations leading in the safety arena from Sweden and India.

Road safety is critical in delivering the 2030 Global Goals for sustainable development (SDG) and enable an efficient transport system, and thus remove obstacles for societal growth and prosperity. Strong action for road safety is essential to support India’s ambition to cut fatalities by half in the next 10 years.