Automotive Testing Expo India 2025: Charting the Course for a Transformed Automotive Landscape
The Automotive Testing Expo India 2025 made its grand return after a two-year hiatus, opening its doors at the CTC Complex in Chennai from April 8th to 10th. The event emerged as the largest gathering in the country for automotive industry stakeholders, coinciding with a period of transformation driven by electrification, autonomy, and sustainability. With over 5,000 attendees, the three-day expo became a pivotal platform for intensive discussions and groundbreaking innovations.
Inauguration and Event Highlights:
The biennial show commenced with an elaborate opening ceremony, featuring the traditional South Indian lamp lighting ritual. Esteemed participants included representatives from the organizing body, panel members from the SAEIndia Automotive Leadership Summit, and knowledge partner ARAI: Dr. G. Nagarajan, President, SAEIndia; Mr. C.V. Raman, Member of the Executive Committee, Maruti Suzuki/Past President, SAEIndia; Dr. Saurabh Dalela, Director, ICAT; Dr. N. Saravanan, President and Chief Technology Officer, Ashok Leyland; and Dr. Reji Mathai, Director at ARAI.
Across two expansive exhibition halls, over 200 industry-leading suppliers launched their latest innovations and showcased cutting-edge advancements in full-vehicle, component, and systems development. The expo presented a comprehensive array of solutions essential for overcoming existing challenges, accelerating development cycles, and significantly enhancing the overall quality, reliability, durability, and safety of vehicles, their individual components, and integrated systems.
SAEIndia Automotive Leadership Summit:
A significant highlight of this year’s event was the inaugural SAEIndia Automotive Leadership Summit, a platform designed to facilitate the crucial exchange of knowledge among prominent industry experts. Speakers representing OEMs, academia, leading suppliers, standards organizations, and regulatory bodies explored the unique challenges and emerging opportunities within the Indian automotive testing, validation, and quality engineering landscape. The summit also emphasized the paramount importance of cross-industry collaboration and highlighted India’s growing capabilities for the global automotive market.
Keynote and Discussions:
The summit kicked off with a keynote address from Damodaran Subramanian, CEO of ChipEdge Technologies/Sarinx/Celton, who emphasized the importance of testing and validation in the face of the industry’s transformational changes. Subramanian highlighted how the automotive sector, driven by electrification, autonomy, digitalization, and sustainability, is increasingly reliant on advanced testing and validation methods.
The theme of collaboration was central throughout the summit. Dr. Saravanan of Ashok Leyland discussed the shift toward smarter testing and virtual validation, while Dr. Dalela of ICAT explored cost-effective testing solutions.
Day 2 featured a session on ‘Safe and Connected Vehicles for the Future,’ moderated by Shinto Joseph, Director at LDRA Technology. The session included speakers from IIT Hyderabad, ICAT, Continental, and Spark Minda. Joseph stressed the opportunity presented by digitization, noting the heavy cost of road accidents in India and the role safety must play in the automotive industry’s future.
Future Technologies and Panel Discussions:
Following the session on safe vehicles, the summit continued with discussions on SDV, ADAS, V2X, and AI. Dr. Manish Jaiswal from NATRAX emphasized the need to account for local nuances, including infrastructure and driving habits, when developing standards and technology. Ramanathan Srinivasan of Automotive Test Systems pointed out the challenges in testing ADAS systems, citing the need for extensive validation and the industry’s reliance on collaboration to provide the necessary data for accurate testing.
Other notable discussions included the “Disruptions in Mobility” session, which covered emerging technologies in ground mobility, EVs, hydrogen, drones, hyperloop, and aerospace. Industry experts from Quintrans, the Global Automotive Research Centre, AvironiX, and Boeing contributed insights.
A panel on the ‘EV Test Ecosystem’ included key presentations from ARAI, OLA Electric, and Ashok Leyland, followed by the “Design in India for the World” session featuring speakers from Renault Nissan Technology & Business Centre India, TVS Motor Company, and ChipEdge Technologies.
Impact and Future Outlook:
Automotive Testing Expo India 2025 proved to be an essential platform for knowledge exchange and collaboration in the rapidly evolving automotive industry. As India strengthens its position in the global automotive testing sector, the event highlighted the need for continuous innovation and industry cooperation to meet future challenges, particularly in electrification, autonomous technologies, and sustainable mobility. With a focus on cross-industry partnerships, the event paved the way for the next generation of automotive technologies and solutions in India.