3 more automated driving test tracks planned

Following the success of the Mallathahalli facility, the government is planning three more automated driving test tracks (ADTT) at an estimated cost of Rs 15 crore.

“We have proposed Mangalore, Hoskote and Belgaum for the ADTTs,” a senior official of the department said.

The track in Mallathahalli has not only helped enhance the level of testing, it has also reduced corruption in issuance of driving licences, the official said. A similar plan is being considered for the other three centres, of which the one at Mangalore is expected to be larger than others.

The Mallathahalli facility, spread across 2.5 acres and built at a cost of Rs 1.75 crore, is equipped to test around 600 applicants a day, including 400 two-wheeler licence aspirants.

The tracks (two for two-wheelers and one for a four-wheelers) have more than a hundred electronic sensors embedded near curves and speed breakers/road humps which will deduct points if the driver is caught making an error by hitting the sensor-fitted poles while negotiating curves or speed breakers.