Chennai, July 31: The Centre of Excellence for Road Safety at Indian Institute of Technology Madras organized its first-ever international hackathon.
The Centre introduced a dedicated BIMSTEC track, bringing together students, engineers, researchers, and problem-solvers from across India and all other BIMSTEC region - Bangladesh, Bhutan, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Thailand.
This was envisaged as the biggest hackathon for the Global South. The hackathon positions IIT Madras to bring together governments, regional bodies and academic institutions around the shared, high-impact problem of road safety using AI as the common language.
Held under the aegis of Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, Government of India, the BIMSTEC AI Road Safety Hackathon 2026 was organized under the theme ‘AI in Road Safety’ in the campus on 16th July 2026, which is also the ‘AI Appreciation Day’. The initiative traces back to the announcement made by CoERS, IIT Madras, at ‘India AI Impact Summit’ held in Delhi during February 2026.
BIMSTEC region is home to nearly 1.8 billion people and records nearly 200,000 road fatalities every year, highlighting the urgent need for data-driven, technology-enabled solutions to strengthen road safety across the region.
Sharing perspectives on the significance of the initiative, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, suggested that the shortlisted application platforms, along with other outstanding entries, be groomed and mentored through CoERS to scale up utilisation of these applications.
Further, the Ministry of External Affairs said,
“Road safety remains a critical issue, not just for India but for countries around the world. It is essential that we treat it as a shared responsibility. Meeting global road safety challenges requires nations to come together with their experience, solutions and capabilities to work toward this common goal, as it matters to everyone. Initiatives such as the BIMSTEC AI Road Safety Hackathon reflect India's continued commitment to deepening engagement with our neighbouring nations, and we consider this a cause worth strengthening further.”
Highlighting the significance of the Hackathon, Prof. V. Kamakoti, Director, IIT Madras, said,
“Our institute, IIT Madras, has always believed that research must serve society. Road safety is one of the clearest examples of this responsibility. Through the Centre of Excellence for Road Safety, our institute has been able to bring research, technology, and policy together to attend one of the most pressing challenges in India, as well as the world.”
Prof. V. Kamakoti added,
“The AI Road Safety Hackathon, bringing together young minds from across the seven BIMSTEC nations, represents the kind of collaborative spirit IIT Madras stands for. We are happy to provide a platform where students and researchers can apply their skills in artificial intelligence and technology toward saving lives on our roads. We look forward to continuing this partnership with our neighbouring nations in the years ahead."
Elaborating on the event outcomes, Prof. Venkatesh Balasubramanian, Head, CoERS, IIT Madras said,
“Road safety cannot be solved by any one intervention alone and it requires a systems approach, where infrastructure, technology, behaviour, and policy work together. At CoERS, our DDHI programs have shown the value of this approach, helping us reach down to the district level across India and build road safety solutions rooted in local realities.”
He further added,
“We believe these same systems thinking can be extended to our BIMSTEC neighbours and just as they can adopt and adapt what we have learnt in India, we have much to learn from their experiences and approaches as well.”
The Hackathon brought together participants to develop AI-powered chatbot solutions across three problem statements: DriveLegal, which provides road users with location-specific information on traffic laws, violations, and fine schedules; RoadWatch, which enables citizens to report road infrastructure issues and track accountability for their resolution; and RoadSoS, which offers location-based access to trauma centres, ambulance services, and emergency contacts following road accidents.
The top three winning teams were from India with Team ‘Cipher’ securing the first position, ‘Civics Forge’ bagging the second position and ‘Tejas’ winning the third position. Together, they were awarded a total prize pool of ₹1,00,000, along with opportunities to further collaborate with CoERS, IIT Madras.
Recognising outstanding innovations from across the wider BIMSTEC region, Road Legal and Qreators received special appreciation for their work.
Every solution was built around real user needs. For the Road Legal problem statement, one team developed an AI-powered road law chatbot with an interactive quiz feature. For Road SOS, teams used smartphone motion sensors to detect accidents, even where network connectivity was unavailable. For Road Watch, teams focused on improving transparency in road budgets and strengthening contractor accountability.
