Maruti Suzuki now has 500 driving schools across India. Why is this significant?

Maruti Suzuki on Wednesday informed it has now 500 driving schools across the country with a presence in as many as 242 cities here. First launched in 2005, the Maruti Suzuki Driving School (MSDS) claims to make use of cutting-edge technology to impart the basics of driving to learners while also allowing them to hone established skills.

MSDS centers are set up by Maruti Suzuki in partnership with its dealers. The main highlight of these driving schools are stateof-the-art driving simulators that replicate the Indian driving conditions and facilitate quality training through a hybrid curriculum that includes on-road driving situations. There are also classroom training sessions for students. “The overall driving course is carefully designed with practical and theory courses based on international best driving practices," states the company. “The curated training sessions educate customers on appropriate road behaviour, defensive driving, good samaritan law, traffic rules and regulations and a holistic knowledge overview on basic vehicle maintenance and emergency handling techniques amongst others."

Clearly, while the focus is on equipping proper driving techniques, there is a focus on road etiquette on the move as well. “Maruti Suzuki Driving Schools were launched with the core objective of imparting safe driving training and road behaviour among customers to make Indian roads safer," said Shashank Srivastava, Senior Executive Director for Marketing and Sales at Maruti Suzuki India Limited. “The MSDS network has around 1500 certified and qualified expert trainers, who have been imparting safe driving training."

Maruti Suzuki now aims to train over 2.5 million students through its network of MSDS by 2025.