Minus Zero, a Bengaluru-based artificial intelligence (AI) start-up, has presented what it claims to be India’s first autonomous car. The zPod vehicle, which can expand up to Level 5 autonomy, can drive itself under any environmental and geographical conditions, according to company co-founder Gagandeep Reehal. Minus Zero also claims to be a technology startup that will supply its autonomous driving technology to other automakers in order to assist in improving its ADAS suite.
Minus Zero: AI Technology
The company intends to use AI to overcome problems encountered by tech companies attempting to develop autonomous vehicles suited for Indian roadways. The platform also released a whitepaper on ”Nature-Inspired AI” (NIA), which it describes as a novel approach to building generalized autonomous agents inspired by a physics-aware vision and the predictive decision-making capabilities of the human brain, making it efficient in dealing with real-world road scenarios.
Minus Zero established the concept of ‘True Vision Autonomy’ (TVA) using NIA, which it claims is the safest and most scalable solution to autonomous driving and can scale up to Level 5 autonomy. TVA is vehicle-independent and uses solely cameras as its sensor suite. The startup also intends to provide technology to aid OEMs in improving their advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS).
Minus Zero: zPod
According to Minus Zero, the zPod is only a technological demonstration of what it is attempting to do. Unlike many self-driving cars, the zPod does not utilize LIDAR (light detection and ranging), but rather an array of six cameras – four on the sides and two in the front and rear.
In-campus mobility, which refers to the movement of individuals within the bounds of a specified campus or regulated environment, such as a tech park, university campus, corporate campus, or any institution with a defined area, is the zPod’s near-term use case.
The zPod, which lacks a steering wheel. Instead, the cameras take photos of the vehicle’s surroundings in real time and send them to the AI system. The AI processes this data to make intelligent judgments about navigation, speed control, and obstacle avoidance. According to Minus Zero, this camera-based technique makes zPod a cheaper autonomous vehicle than competitors relying on pricey sensor arrays.
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Keyword: Banglore based start-up Minus Zero unveils level-5 autonomous driving tech