zPod, which doesn’t have a steering wheel, utilizes a network of strategically positioned high-resolution cameras as its primary sensory system.
Bengaluru-based artificial intelligence (AI) start-up Minus Zero has unveiled what it claims is India’s first autonomous vehicle. Based on a camera-sensor suite, the fully-electric prototype called zPod can drive in all environmental and geographical constraints, and can scale up to Level 5 autonomy capabilities, the company said. Level 5 autonomy refers to the highest level of autonomous driving, where a vehicle is fully capable of operating without human intervention in all driving conditions and environments.
Founded by Gagandeep Reehal and Gursimran Kalra in 2021, Minus Zero has raised a $1.7 million in seed fund from a bunch of investors including Chiratae Ventures, Snow Leopard Ventures, IIT Mandi and other angel investors from autonomous vehicles industry.
zPod, which doesn’t have a steering wheel, utilizes a network of strategically positioned high-resolution cameras as its primary sensory system. These cameras capture real-time images of the vehicle’s surroundings and transmit them to the AI system. The AI processes this information to make informed decisions regarding navigation, speed control, and obstacle avoidance. This camera-based approach makes zPod a more affordable autonomous vehicle compared to those relying on expensive sensor arrays, the company said.
The near-term use case of the zPod is limited to in-campus mobility, which refers to the transportation of people within the confines of a specific campus or controlled environment, such as a tech park, university campus, corporate campus, or any institution with a defined area. The start-up also aims to offer the tech to help OEMs improve their advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS).
SPOTLIGHT
Talking to Business Today, the founders said zPod is only a vehicle designed to showcase the AI-based autonomous vehicle technology the company has developed, and that it doesn’t plan to build cars. “We are not an OEM; we do not plan to build cars. It is a vehicle developed to showcase the system we have built. We believe not one company or country alone can build and develop the concept of autonomous vehicle; it needs the whole ecosystem to come together. It is just the beginning,” Reehal said.
The start-up will focus on further advancing its proprietary technologies — Nature Inspired AI (NIA) and True Vision Autonomy (TVA) — to explore various opportunities including collaborations with OEMs for growth.
Nature-inspired AI is an approach to building generalized autonomous agents inspired by physics-aware vision and the predictive decision-making capabilities of a human brain, to efficiently handle real-world road scenarios, unlike traditional AI. As per the company, the nature-inspired algorithm will offer real-time low-power processing, adaptability to uncertain or chaotic real-road conditions, and help eliminate the need to re-learn driving for different use cases, geographies, or vehicles. TVA is a vehicle agnostic technology, meaning it can adapt to any use case and vehicle form factor, and relies only on cameras as its sensor suite, helping the vehicle navigate real-world scenarios safely, ensuring reliability and a smooth user experience.
“Our concepts allow automakers to explore new design possibilities for vehicles, currently limited by the constraints of a driver-led design. We aim to redefine mobility from a driver-centric hassle to a user-focused experiential design,” Kalra said.
