Honda Cars India Limited (HCIL) has announced a strategic joint research collaboration with the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) — specifically IIT Delhi and IIT Bombay — to further develop Honda’s Cooperative Intelligence (CI), a proprietary artificial intelligence technology aimed at fostering mutual understanding between machines and humans. The initiative seeks to advance technologies that could drastically reduce traffic collisions and enhance automated driving capabilities.
Honda, known for its commitment to enhancing mobility, has been working on CI to create a collision-free, stress-free, and more efficient mobility ecosystem. By partnering with IITs, which are renowned for their world-class researchers and engineers, Honda aims to accelerate advancements in CI through the development of AI technologies that can navigate complex environments and improve real-world applications.
Atsushi Ogawa, Managing Officer of Honda R&D, and Takuya Tsumura, President and CEO of Honda Cars India Ltd., are leading the collaboration alongside key academic figures such as Prof. Rangan Banerjee, Director of IIT Delhi, and Prof. Milind Atrey, Deputy Director of IIT Bombay.
Joint research will focus on key themes such as environmental recognition and cooperative behavior between vehicles and drivers. Through this initiative, Honda and IITs will also engage students, offering them opportunities to participate in the planning, development, and testing of cutting-edge technologies that aim to transcend laboratory boundaries.
In addition to the joint research, Honda and IITs plan to conduct real-world testing of driver assistance and automated driving technologies in the challenging traffic environments of Delhi and Mumbai. The goal is to refine CI technologies that can be deployed not only in India but across the globe. Honda has been recruiting graduates from IIT since 2019, and many now play significant roles in the company’s mobility intelligence projects, including CI research and development.
With this partnership, Honda hopes to advance its vision for a future where mobility is safer, more efficient, and accessible, while also fostering a new generation of AI researchers.
