State-of-the-art automated vehicle testing centre coming up in Visakhapatnam

Automated Inspection and Certification Centre in Visakhapatnam to issue Fitness Certificates eliminating manual intervention.

The days of taking a stencil of the chassis number of a motor vehicle with a pencil will soon be over. An Automated Inspection and Certification Centre (AICC), the first of its kind in Andhra Pradesh, for issuance of Fitness Certificate (FC) is coming up in the city.

The facility, being established at a cost of ₹16.5 crore given by the Union government at the site belonging to the A.P. Transport Department, beside the IIM-Visakhapatnam campus, at Gambheeram, on the outskirts of the city, is expected to be fully operational in two months.

The vehicle fitness certification includes brake test, checking emission levels, headlight test, wheel alignment and a decibel meter to check the noise generated by the engine.

The black topping of the tracks was almost completed and the Deputy Transport Commissioner G.C. Raja Ratnam, accompanied by Motor Vehicle Inspector M. Butchi Raju, was inspecting the works.

“The building has provision for entry of the vehicle, which comes for fitness testing, from one side and its exit from the other, on completion of the test. In all, 12 different tests would be conducted by the system, eliminating the need for manual intervention. The work of the MVI will largely be limited to attestation of the result,” Mr. Raja Ratnam told The Hindu.

“If the vehicle fails in any of the parameters, the FC would be rejected. The owner would have to get the problem rectified and bring the vehicle for a retest. The Automotive Research Association of India (ARAI), the executing agency of the automation project, would establish and maintain the facility for a few years, and later hand it over to the government,” he says.

The seven driving tracks, three each for two-wheelers and four wheelers and one for heavy vehicle at Gambheeram, are being fully automated. RFID sensors and cameras have been installed, around the driving track, to capture the driving skills of the person, going for the driving test.