According to an official statement by IIT Delhi, they have entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Honda Cars India Limited (HCIL) to advance further Honda CI (Cooperative Intelligence), an AI that enables mutual understanding between machines and people through cooperative action and communication using environment, scene, and intention understanding. 

The MoU was signed by Prof. Preeti Ranjan Panda, Dean of Corporate Relations, Prof. Naresh Bhatnagar, Dean (R&D), IIT Delhi, and Mr. Udit Kumar, Senior Vice President & Director, HCIL, in the presence of Prof. Rangan Banerjee, Director, IIT Delhi, and Mr. Takuya Tsumura, President & CEO, Honda Cars India Limited (HCIL). 

An Attempt to Advance Cooperative Intelligence 

IIT Delhi is home to many excellent researchers and engineers. Under the MoU, engineers from HCIL and Honda R&D Co., Ltd., a Honda R&D subsidiary, will participate in joint research with IIT Delhi researchers to advance the underlying technologies of CI, with an eye toward future applications for technologies that reduce traffic collisions and enable automated driving. 

Prof. Preeti Ranjan Panda, Dean of Corporate Relations at IIT Delhi, said, “The mobility industry is experiencing significant change, driven by a growing demand for sustainable and functional products powered by AI technologies that are shaping its future. This partnership aims to leverage IIT Delhi’s advanced research and Honda’s expertise in practical applications to fast-track innovation and create solutions that benefit customers and society across various applications.” 

Honda, which has been working on research and development of CI, is currently conducting technology demonstrations in Joso City, Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan, as a proof of concept of its CI-powered micro-mobility vehicle/robot. 

Environmental Recognition and Cooperative Behavior 

Aiming to further advance CI, Honda and IIT Delhi have set joint research themes such as recognition of the surrounding environment and cultivation of cooperative behaviour. They will conduct joint research and development while utilizing cutting-edge AI technologies. 

Moreover, for each research theme, Honda associates and professors of IIT Delhi will jointly engage with the Institute’s students for planning, designing, developing and testing technologies which work beyond the confines of the laboratory and thereby proceed with the research and development more flexibly and with a high degree of freedom. This will enable Honda and IIT Delhi to work more flexibly with a deeper exchange of academic and industry insights. 

Fostering Future AI Researchers through Joint Research Programs 

In addition, as part of this joint research, Honda, with the help of IIT Delhi, aims to verify driving assistance and automated driving technologies in the suburbs of Delhi. By conducting technology verification in Delhi’s traffic environment, Honda and IIT Delhi will refine the underlying technologies of CI and strive to apply them to future driver assistance and automated driving technologies in various regions of the world, including India. 

• IIT Delhi
• Honda