Automated driving test centres to soon stay open in Delhi all week: Govt

The automated driving test facilities in Delhi will increase their operating timings from seven hours to 12 hours and will function all days of the week

Soon, the automated driving test facilities in the capital will increase their operating hours from seven to 12 and function on all days of the week, a move that is likely to bring down waiting times of driving licence applicants.

An automated driving test centre in Sarai Kale Khan in Delhi. (Mohd Zakir/HT PHOTO)

The tests will be held from 8am to 8pm unlike 9am to 4pm earlier.

Senior transport officials on Saturday said these facilities have been outsourced to a private company that has already taken over the operation and maintenance of three of the driving tracks located in Dwarka, Sarai Kale Khan and Raja Garden.

“The remaining tracks will be taken over in the next 15 days. The idea is to improve customer experience. Now, if someone visits any of these driving test tracks, they are greeted by officials in uniform and are guided through the process,” said KK Dahiya, special commissioner (transport).

The company has introduced a token-based electronic queue management system and is reducing human intervention in the testing process.

Three years after the Delhi government introduced the city’s first automated driving test track (ADTT) in 2018, such tracks are operational in 11 locations, with another coming up in Hari Nagar.

The project is first being rolled out from ADTTs at Loni Road, Rohini, Shakur Basti, Janakpuri, Sarai Kale Khan and Raja Garden. For the other sites, the 12-hour shift will be decided by the transport department based on the volume of applications.

The transport department is in talks with Maruti, which owns two automated tracks, and Ashok Leyland, which owns one, to use their centres for driving licence tests.

At least 150,000 people give the driving test for a permanent driving license annually in Delhi. With the systemic changes, this is likely to double, officials said. For four-wheelers, the test involves parallel parking, and driving through up-gradient, forward-8, reverse-S and traffic junctions. For two-wheelers, it is a serpentine track and there is the focus on emergency braking skills.