The Centre of Excellence for Road Safety (CoERS) at the Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT Madras) has organised its first international BIMSTEC AI Road Safety Hackathon 2026, bringing together innovators from seven countries to develop artificial intelligence-driven solutions aimed at reducing road accidents and saving lives.
Held under the aegis of the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH), the hackathon was organised on July 16, coinciding with AI Appreciation Day, under the theme ‘AI in Road Safety’. The event marked IIT Madras’ first international hackathon and introduced a dedicated BIMSTEC track, bringing together students, engineers, researchers and technology innovators from India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Thailand.
The initiative builds on the announcement made by CoERS during the India AI Impact Summit held in New Delhi in February this year.
Tackling a major regional challenge
The BIMSTEC region is home to nearly 1.8 billion people and records around 200,000 road fatalities annually, underscoring the need for technology-enabled and data-driven road safety solutions.
The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has recommended that the shortlisted applications, along with other promising entries, be mentored through CoERS to facilitate wider deployment and real-world implementation.
The Ministry of External Affairs said road safety is a shared global responsibility and stressed that collaborative initiatives such as the BIMSTEC AI Road Safety Hackathon demonstrate India’s commitment to strengthening regional cooperation in addressing common challenges.
AI solutions for safer roads
Participants developed AI-powered chatbot applications around three key problem statements. DriveLegal focuses on providing road users with location-specific information on traffic regulations, violations and penalty structures.
RoadWatch enables citizens to report road infrastructure issues while tracking accountability for their resolution.
RoadSoS offers location-based access to trauma centres, ambulance services and emergency contacts following road accidents.
IIT Madras on collaborative innovation
IIT Madras Director Prof V Kamakoti said the institute has always believed that research must directly benefit society, with road safety representing one of the institution’s most significant areas of public impact.
He said the hackathon reflected IIT Madras’ commitment to bringing together young innovators from BIMSTEC nations to apply artificial intelligence and technology towards solving one of the region’s most pressing challenges.
CoERS Head Prof Venkatesh Balasubramanian said improving road safety requires a systems approach that integrates infrastructure, technology, human behaviour and policy.
He noted that CoERS’ District Demonstration Hub Initiative (DDHI) has helped build road safety solutions tailored to local conditions across India, adding that similar collaborative learning can benefit all BIMSTEC countries.
Indian teams dominate
Indian teams secured all the top honours at the hackathon. Team Cipher won the first prize, while Team Civics Forge finished second and Team Tejas secured the third position.
The winners shared a total prize pool of ₹1 lakh and will receive opportunities to collaborate further with CoERS, IIT Madras, to develop and scale their AI-powered road safety solutions.