Suzuki's 'just-right ADAS' plan targets India's affordable car segment

Suzuki Motor Corporation has said it plans to make core ADAS (advanced driver assistance system) features standard across its future vehicle range in India, including its most affordable models. The comments came from Katsuhiro Kato, Suzuki's chief technology officer, at the company's technology strategy briefing.

Kato said that fitting expensive ADAS only to a small number of premium cars would have limited impact on reducing accidents at a societal level. Suzuki therefore wants to make key safety features available across its range.

Suzuki's plan for standard ADAS features

Kato said Suzuki plans to make safety functions such as automatic emergency braking and lane departure prevention standard equipment. Other comfort-focused functions would remain optional, allowing customers to choose whether they want them. The company has not confirmed which Maruti Suzuki models will get these features first. It has also not announced a rollout date for India.

Why Suzuki is prioritising India

Suzuki pointed to India's road safety numbers and the large number of vehicles it sells in the country as reasons for bringing ADAS to more affordable segments. The company cited 177,000 road deaths recorded in India in 2024. Kato said Suzuki is working on what it calls 'just-right ADAS'. The system is intended to be tuned for India's traffic conditions rather than directly using a system developed for other markets.

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How Suzuki plans to cut ADAS costs

Suzuki is looking at several ways to reduce the cost of ADAS while maintaining safety performance. These include using high-resolution cameras with AI chips and combining driver and occupant monitoring functions with the ADAS system. The company is also considering removing the front radar from its proposed configuration. Kato said Suzuki is targeting 'major cost reductions' while maintaining equal or better safety performance. However, these are development targets and are not confirmed results from a production system.

Suzuki's broader SDV Right and Central Zone ECU plans

The ADAS strategy is part of Suzuki's wider 'SDV Right' approach. This involves identifying the electronic functions customers actually need and combining separate control systems where possible. As part of this approach, Suzuki's next-generation vehicle architecture would combine communication, power distribution and body-control functions into a Central Zone ECU. Suzuki estimates that this controller could cost around 30% less and weigh about 15% less than its current setup. These figures apply to the controller itself and not the entire vehicle.

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A two-pronged approach to safety

Kato described Suzuki's safety strategy as having two main parts. The first is a lighter vehicle body designed to protect occupants in a crash, while the second is an ADAS system designed to help prevent accidents.

By making core ADAS features standard across its range instead of limiting them to higher-priced models, Suzuki aims to extend this accident-prevention technology to the affordable cars that make up a large share of Maruti Suzuki's sales in India.

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