(September 3, 2024) Bengaluru-based entrepreneurs Gagandeep Reehal and Gursimran Kalra unveiled the next generation of autonomous mobility last year with a driverless car, zPod – India’s first autonomous vehicle without a steering wheel. Equipped with a network of strategically placed high-resolution cameras, the vehicle can continuously capture real-time images of the surroundings and feed them into an advanced AI system. The AI then processes this visual data, making intelligent decisions to safely navigate and drive without any human input.
“It showcases True Vision Autonomy, relying purely on camera sensors (yes, ‘only’) for the first time in history,” remarked Gagandeep Reehal while sharing a video of Kris Gopalakrishnan, co-founder of Infosys, and TCM Sundaram, Chairman of Chiratae Ventures, taking the country’s first autonomous vehicle ride with him.
With this groundbreaking innovation in 2023, the co-founders of Minus Zero started 2024 on a high note. They not only secured a partnership with Ashok Leyland and the International Institute of Information Technology Hyderabad (IIITH) but also earned a spot on the Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia list.
“But this is just the beginning; much more is on the way. While we are the faces of this project, it belongs to the entire team at Minus Zero,” remarked Gagandeep after being named in the 2024 Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia list.
Nature-inspired AI
At Minus Zero, the approach to AI is deeply inspired by nature, particularly in how humans develop intelligence. Unlike traditional AI, which often focuses on highly specialised tasks, Minus Zero’s nature-inspired AI aims to emulate the way humans learn and adapt.
“Human intelligence begins with a broad, generalised understanding of the world, which is gradually refined into specialised skills, such as driving. This process allows humans to adapt to new environments and tasks efficiently, explains Gagandeep adding, “In driving, for example, humans didn’t learn by mastering every specific situation first. Instead, we developed a foundational understanding of how the world works—like recognizing obstacles, predicting the behaviour of other drivers, and making quick decisions based on constantly changing surroundings. This generalised intelligence is what Minus Zero seeks to replicate in its AI systems.”
By building AI that mimics this adaptive, learning-based approach, Minus Zero’s technology doesn’t rely on extensive pre-mapped data or an overload of sensors. Instead, it can adjust to new geographies, vehicle types, and unpredictable scenarios, just as a human would.
This innovation in AI doesn’t just make autonomous driving possible; it makes it safer and more adaptable, aiming to overcome the limitations of current robotics and AI systems in driving, believe the entrepreneurs.
The Minus Zero journey
High school friends Gagandeep and Gursimran founded Minus Zero in 2020 as two undergraduates with a bold vision for solving autonomous driving challenges in India.
“Minus Zero is India’s first startup building foundational AI models for autonomous driving, delivered as an industry-first intelligent platform for automotive OEMs, enabling autopilot and self-driving capabilities for next-generation vehicles across all geographies,” Gagandeep shared.
Having demonstrated India’s first autonomous concept vehicle, the zPod, the start-up has garnered support from leading investors like Chiratae Ventures and others.
Gagandeep Reehal at Dubai World Trade Centre
In addition to the recent Forbes accolade, Minus Zero has been recognized with prestigious awards such as the NASSCOM AI Gamechanger award. The company has also represented India on international stages, including Vivatech 2023 in Paris, France, and the World Self-Driving Congress in Dubai.
Driving the future of Indian commercial vehicles with Ashok Leyland
Sealing a deal with Ashok Leyland, the country’s top commercial vehicle manufacturer, is a great milestone for the young entrepreneurs who are in their early twenties. The partnership is set to transform the commercial trucking industry by deploying autonomous solutions on a large scale.
Minus Zero’s pioneering autonomous driving platform, powered by its innovative nature-inspired AI technology would be integrated into Ashok Leyland’s fleet of commercial vehicles. The collaboration aims to enable safe and scalable adoption of autonomous driving in the commercial vehicle sector.
Minus Zero COO Gursimran, Ashok Leyland CTO N Saravanan and Minus Zero CEO & CTO Gagandeep
“Ashok Leyland brings decades of experience in delivering high quality products at scale and we are excited to partner with them in this journey of accelerating autonomous driving in India and globally. This partnership marks the beginning of India’s autonomous driving story,” said Gagandeep after signing the deal.
The collaboration is initially focused on developing customised autonomous trucking solutions for ports, factory operations, and corporate campuses. As regulations around autonomous driving evolve, the entrepreneurs plan to expand into hub-to-hub applications and long-haul trucking.
“Minus Zero’s groundbreaking work is a step towards creating autonomous vehicles that can navigate the complexities of real-world environments with the same intuitive understanding that humans possess,” Gagandeep remarks.
- Follow Gagandeep Reehal and Gursimran Kalra on LinkedIn
