September 23, 2022, West Bengal, India: Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur signed a LoI (Letter of Intent) with the Technical University of Munich (TUM) on Indo-German Collaborative Research Centre of Intelligent Transportation Systems (IGCRCoITS) at IIT Kharagpur. The collaborative Research & Development (R&D) between both the institutions will emphasize on the main areas of intelligent transportation enhancing Electric Mobility Systems including automobiles, rail, marine craft, UAVs etc. Vehicle Energy Management, Battery Management Systems, Transportation Software and Security, Public Transportation, Data-driven Transport Planning and Emerging Mobility Solutions will be the major focus areas.The Indo German Partnership (IGP) project was agreed on sponsorship by Germany and India to foster collaborations and interactions between the Institutions. The first workshop was launched on 25th November 2020.
Prof. Virendra Kumar Tewari, Director, IIT Kharagpur remarked, “This Center would form the umbrella academic unit orchestrating and synergizing with several research centres and facilities on transportation at IIT Kharagpur including the IGCRCoITS. The FutureTrans project assures self-sustainability of IGCRCoITS in terms of resources and expansion along with inclusion of new participants from the academia and industrial domains, for both India and Germany. Advanced research, consultancy, advisory and training programmes with participation of various beneficiary partners will create new domains to implement Intelligent Transportation Systems which will be a conducive implementation of intellectual product designs.”
The first phase of the FutureTrans project started from 2018, established workshops, research groups, sponsored as well as doctoral research in diversified area of academia along with numerous publications in reputed journals and conference papers in the area of Intelligent Transportation. Along the lines of promoting Intelligent Transportation, lIT Kharagpur launched an M.Tech programme on Electric Transportation.
