The funding is to be used to support deployment of 350 fully air-conditioned, 9-metre electric buses across eight cities in Uttar Pradesh.

Seeing Machines’ technology, which tracks the driver’s face and behaviour to identify and react to distraction or drowsiness, was tested and certified successfully for use in buses produced by Wrightbus.

The e-buses will operate on the island of Yakushima, a Unesco World Heritage site.

The manufacturer says it is looking to take on fast-rising competition from Chinese and European manufacturers in the emerging global market for zero-emission commercial vehicles, including hydrogen-powered trucks and buses.

Valeo says it will also be partnering with Seeing Machines to offer a “best-in-class” full system for interior sensing, available to the passenger car and commercial vehicle segments.

The e-SMaRT AU56 City product is now in series production. The first tyres to roll off the production line will be 275/70 R22.5 tyres, designed for the urban electric bus market.

The zero-emissions “Erga EV” was first unveiled at the Japan Mobility Show last October.

Production may be possibly at its site car factory in Nošovice, Czech Republic, although not plant has been mentioned at present.

The market for commercial vehicles over 2 tons gvw in the Philippines expanded by more than 5% to 27,959 units in the first quarter of 2024 after a slight decline to 26,597 units in the same period of last year.

The market for commercial vehicles over 2 tons gvw in Vietnam declined by almost 6% to 11,105 units in the first quarter of 2024

The Indonesian market for commercial vehicles over 2 tons gvw plunged by 42% to 27,187 in the first quarter of 2024 from strong year-earlier volumes.

The Malaysian commercial vehicle market over 2 tons gvw declined by 16% to 17,189 units in the first quarter of 2024 from strong year-earlier sales of 20,484 units.