Bengaluru-based Minus Zero unveils India's first AI-driven autopilot system for cars

Bengaluru-based autonomous mobility startup Minus Zero has unveiled the country’s first end-to-end AI-powered autopilot system, capable of navigating India's chaotic and unpredictable streets using vision-based technology.

Unlike conventional systems that rely on rule-based algorithms or expensive sensors, the company uses foundational AI models trained in a self-supervised manner, without human-labelled data or high-definition maps.

“This is the first time end-to-end foundational models are being tested on Indian roads,” Minus Zero said in a statement. “Our vision-based system can gracefully handle unique obstacles like animals, push-karts, and small two-wheelers and their unpredictable behaviours.”

The company, known for previously demonstrating India’s first fully driverless in-campus vehicle, is taking a significant leap with this full-stack autopilot platform tailored for India’s traffic conditions.

Unlike traditional autonomous systems that depend on LiDAR sensors or HD maps, both of which are costly and often impractical in Indian conditions, Minus Zero’s technology relies solely on camera input.

“We’re moving away from complicated and expensive sensor-setup including multiple LiDARs to a vision-first stack that is easier and more economical to put in production," the company said.

At the heart of the system are foundational AI models, similar in principle to large language models like ChatGPT but designed for real-world physical navigation. These models are trained on massive amounts of raw data and can generalise to previously unseen roads and obstacles, a feature the company believes is crucial for global scalability.

The system, the company claims enables navigation in dense Indian urban traffic with oncoming vehicles and narrow roads with or without lane markings.

The announcement comes at a time when India is seeing a surge in advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS), particularly at the L1 and L2 levels. Minus Zero sees an opportunity to shift to more advanced capabilities such as L2+, L2++, and even L3 autonomy.

“Indian consumers are ready for more technology-rich features at a marginal increase in the price point,” the company said.

Globally, advanced systems such as Tesla’s Full Self-Driving, Mercedes’ Drive Pilot, and GM’s Super Cruise have seen deployment in developed countries, but replicating such systems in emerging markets has proven difficult. "While ~90 percent of the ADAS products are deployed in few developed countries, more than 85 percent of road accidents of the world come from emerging countries," the company added.

Minus Zero’s approach includes not only AI-driven perception and planning, but also in-house tools such as generative AI-based photorealistic simulation environments for testing and validation, as well as bespoke onboard software. “We’ve indigenously built full-stack AI solutions, including leveraging generative AI and vision-language models,” it said.

The system is currently in the “hands-off, eyes-on” category, requiring a safety driver, and is undergoing validation. Minus Zero said it is already working with a “couple of large OEMs” and is in talks with others, aiming for production readiness within two years.

The Bengaluru-based startup, founded by Gagandeep Reehal and Gursimran Kalra in 2021, raised a seed round of $1.7 million in 2022. The round was led by Chiratae Ventures and included participation from JITO Angel Network, senior executives from NVIDIA and Lyft in Silicon Valley, among others.