CHENNAI: The IIT Madras on Monday launched two major initiatives – Project Driver Rating Application (DRA) and Project Outreach – towards India achieving its 100% Zero Emission Truck penetration by 2050.
According to IIT-Madras, its Centre of Excellence for Zero Emission Trucking (CoEZET) launched the initiatives during ‘Get ZET - Shifting Gears to Zero Emission Trucking’, including Project Driver Rating Application, an AI-driven mobile app to assess truck driving behaviour on safety and energy efficiency.
“The DRA will also encourage and inculcate safe and efficient driving behaviour among truck drivers. The app will include anticipative alerts designed to inform drivers of inadequate driving behaviour relative to the static context of road infrastructure,” a release issued by IIT-M read.
The objective is to accelerate adoption of Zero Emission Trucks (ZET) like electric trucks in India. Despite trucks representing only 5% of the vehicle fleet, they consume nearly 65% of diesel, leading to substantial pollution and fuel consumption costs. Project Outreach would generate awareness about ZETs among truck drivers and operators.
Professor CS Shankar Ram, HoD-Engineering Design, IIT-M, said, “Drivers, especially, will be seeing significant improvements in their personal comfort due to truck electrification – noise, vibration, heat, fatigue, acceleration and many other criteria will be improved. But they will also be required to re-plan their schedules to find that extra couple of hours to break the journey for charging. This community needs to understand and accept these changes well in advance.”