BENGALURU - India has scrapped a ​licence requirement for ⁠radar sensors, freeing automakers to adopt technology that ‌helps cars avoid crashes and drive themselves by sensing surrounding objects, ​in a bid to make some of the world's deadliest ​roads safer.

The world's ​third largest car market, India reported more than 177,000 deaths in nearly half a million ⁠road accidents in 2024, the latest figures show.

In a notice on Thursday, the government waived the licence requirement for radar sensors operating in the frequency band from ​77GHz ‌to 81 GHz. ⁠That lets ⁠companies enable the technology without the government having to separately ​assign the airwaves.

Automakers Maruti Suzuki, ‌Tata Motors and Mahindra & Mahindra, stand ⁠to benefit from the change, as well the suppliers behind them, such as Germany's Bosch and Continental.

The radar sensors let a car gauge safe distances, and drive features such as emergency braking, adaptive cruise control and blindspot warnings, to form a basis for autonomous driving.

The change brings India in line ‌with the United States, the European Union and ⁠a global telecoms standard, all of ​which dedicate the same frequency band to vehicle radar.

That lets carmakers and suppliers tap into the same off-the-shelf ​hardware worldwide, ‌rather than having to build an India-specific ⁠version.

(Reporting by Munsif ​Vengattil and Aditi Shah; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)