Autonomous Driving Tech Startup Minus Zero Partners Truck Maker Ashok Leyland

Bengaluru-based autonomous driving technology startup Minus Zero has partnered with Hinduja Group’s flagship vehicle manufacturer Ashok Leyland aimed at transforming commercial trucking by deploying autonomous solutions on a large scale.

The collaboration will initially focus on developing autonomous trucking solutions for ports, factory operations and corporate campuses, Minus Zero said in a statement, adding that the future plans will include expanding into hub-to-hub applications and long-haul trucking, subject to evolving regulatory frameworks surrounding autonomous driving.

Minus Zero will integrate its autonomous driving platform with Ashok Leyland’s commercial vehicle fleet. The partnership aims for safe and scalable adoption of autonomous driving in commercial vehicles.

Gagandeep Reehal, cofounder and CEO at Minus Zero, said, “…With our nature-inspired AI, we are bringing a paradigm shift by building foundational AI models for autonomous driving. This partnership marks the beginning of India’s autonomous driving story.”

With global regulations and infrastructure evolving to support autonomous driving, this collaboration can extend to offer joint product offerings to international markets.

N Saravanan, chief technology officer, Ashok Leyland, said, “Minus Zero’s capabilities and plans impressed us, and we are excited to be working with them to develop India-specific solutions, that can be scaled globally. We see spin-off benefits in developing cost-effective active safety solutions to reduce road accidents.”

Founded in 2021 by two undergraduate students, Gagandeep Reehal and Gursimran Kalra, Minus Zero claims to be the first Indian startup to launch a fully autonomous vehicle in the country with its in-house AI solution.

It is pertinent to note that in India, the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, does not have a provision that allows the licensing of autonomous vehicles or makes such vehicles legal to ply on Indian roads.  

While countries like the US, Japan, and Germany have made significant progress in establishing regulations to support advanced vehicle autonomy, India lags behind in developing infrastructure for higher levels of autonomy. Presently, the most advanced cars on Indian roads typically feature level 1 or level 2 Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) capabilities.

Last year, the driving technology startup demonstrated the capabilities of its autonomous driving platform in a closed environment through a purpose-built vehicle, zPod. 

Minus Zero’s zPod stands out as one of the few globally that can operate autonomously with only camera sensors, without the need for expensive technologies like LiDARs and high-definition maps.

While companies like Tesla, Alphabet’s Waymo, Mercedes-Benz, and General Motors have made progress in autonomous features, most of their vehicles currently on roads only have Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS). While a few fully autonomous vehicles exist, more are expected, using technologies like LiDARs, radar, and cameras.