Automotive Research Association of India sets up new facility at Chakan

Pune based auto testing agency the Automotive Research Association of India is setting up new structural dynamics lab and centre of excellence (CoE) for fatigue testing in the country at Chakan. The total investment for the project is of Rs 210 crore.

The laboratory will cover powertrain engineering. It will have advanced equipment for development of all types of powertrains including transmission for diesel, petrol, hybrid and green technologies.

The funding has come through the umbrella project called NATRiP Project (National Automotive Testing Infrastructure Project) of the government of India.

Along with this, the Automotive Research Association of India (ARAI) is also setting up inspection and certification test centres under Ministry of Road transport and Highways. The centres will be located at Nashik, Surat, Chindwara, Bangalore and Telengana.

Commenting on devising new safety requirements and standards, Rashmi Urdhwareshe said, "Considering the importance of safety, ARAI is setting up a passive safety laboratory which will be operational by June 2015. It will be open for the industry to use it. This lab will have fully instrumented crash dummies, crash testing and data acquisition equipment, which are very advanced. It can meet the requirements of full vehicle frontal crash, side crash, offset frontal crash, and also pedestrian safety. These are the new and upcoming regulations for India. This will help to develop safer vehicles for the Indian market."

ARAI has developed few testing facilities in its Pune campus. It includes tyre testing laboratory, the only facility after Central Institute of Road Transport (CIRT), seat testing with the help of Kuka Robot for developing seats especially for German auto manufacturers and highly accelerated life testing (HALT) for emission of commercial vehicles for air bag testing and advanced crash testing facility.

Moreover, ARAI is developing a technology is association with University of Ohio for light weight forging which will help to reduce the total weight of any vehicle.

ARAI has already expanded operations in overseas markets in the countries like China and South Korea.

ARAI has organised a symposium on International automotive Technology (SIAT) at its campus on Vetal Hill from January 22 to 24.