Is Cruise Control useful in India?
What is Cruise Control?
Cruise control is an advanced feature in modern vehicles that allows a driver to maintain constant speed without having to keep their foot on the accelerator pedal. It helps to make long drives on highways and expressways more comfortable, reduce driver fatigue, and improve fuel efficiency.
What is NexCruise?
NexCruise is a product born from a passion for engineering and problem solving. It is a plug-and-play device that adds Cruise Control feature in any car. As of today, Aha NexCruise is the only product in India that offers aftermarket Cruise Control without affecting the product warranty.
How does NexCruise work?
Here’s a simplified explanation of how NexCruise works with your car:
- NexCruise sits between your accelerator pedal and the ECU accelerator connection.
- NexCruise also connects to your car’s OBD-II port.
- When you engage NexCruise at a particular speed, it reads your vehicle speed and sends a signal to the ECU to achieve the desired speed.
- If the speed needs to be increased to reach the desired speed, NexCruise sends a signal to the ECU to increase the vehicle’s speed, just like when you press the accelerator pedal. Similarly, if the speed needs to be decreased, it cuts down the signal from the ECU to the throttle.
- Once the desired speed is attained, it maintains that speed. It reads the speed data from the OBD port and sends commands to maintain the vehicle’s speed.
- It continuously monitors the vehicle’s speed to ensure Cruise Control.
- If the driver presses the brake or disengages NexCruise, it stops functioning and returns the car to normal mode.
The Indian Road Infrastructure:
To understand the utility of Cruise Control, it is important to understand Indian roads and the future. India’s road infrastructure is a mix of congested city roads, rural routes, and newly constructed expressways. While driving on city roads and rural areas can be quite challenging due to heavy traffic, undisciplined driving behavior, and unpredictable road conditions, expressways offer a smoother and more predictable driving experience.
Over the past few years, India has witnessed a very fast expansion of expressway network, connecting major cities and offering vehicles long stretches of well-maintained roads and quick commute. The Wikipedia article on ‘Expressways in India‘ mentions that we have tripled the length of expressways in the last five years. At the end of 2023, India has a total of about 4,067 km expressways. And most interestingly, we are building another 9000 km of expressways as of date, the majority of which will be completed by the end of 2025.
As someone from Jaipur, I am in awe of the speed it has given to vehicles on Gurgaon-Dausa stretch of the recently opened Delhi-Mumbai Expressway. This is not just happening near Delhi; I have talked to people who are traveling at 150 kmph on expressways across the country from MP to Karnataka.
So Is Cruise Control Useful?
Like all questions about the utility of any technology, this question is not simple to answer. It is a matter of personal preference and driving pattern. If the majority of your driving is within city limits, where you need to brake frequently, using Cruise Control might not make much of a difference. With NexCruise, you can cruise even at as low as 10 kmph in city traffic, but continuous acceleration and deceleration and stop-and-go situations won’t let you relax too much.
However, if your travel includes driving on sparse roads or expressways, then you’re in for a treat. Using Cruise Control with NexCruise can make driving on such routes a pleasurable experience. It not only reduces driver fatigue but also helps maintain a constant speed, thus increasing fuel efficiency and offering a pocket friendly manner of driving. Lot of us have tried to drive with a light foot touch on highways, NexCruise has been designed to take care of all of that to give you best in class fuel efficiency. Few of our customers have reported mileage far superior than what the company claims for their cars, check out our customer shout out in mileage of- Swift, Alto K10.
Additionally, NexCruise also controls your speed and saves you from overspeeding fines. You are not supposed to drive at 150 kmph on a 100 kmph expressway. NexCruise helps you control your speed, so you don’t become a target of the automatic speed traps.
This is why we firmly believe that, as our nation continues to build world-class infrastructure, Cruise Control will transition from a luxury to a necessity. Driving on these magnificent roads will be a pleasure, and NexCruise promises to deliver an unparalleled experience to enjoy these journeys. And you don’t need to constraint your car choices or buy a new car to experience all of this. We have the majority of Indian cars configured with NexCruise and you can enjoy the comfort of Cruise Control and take immense pride in our nation’s outstanding development as you cruise along these highways.
Check our page www.aha.store for more details.
