News: Tata Elxsi Licenses Driverless Software to Top-Five Carmaker, Doesn't Say Which One

Global design and technology services company Tata Elxsi says it has licensed its advanced autonomous vehicle middleware platform "AUTONOMAI" to a "leading automotive OEM."

A top-five car OEM worldwide will use the platform to speed up its driverless car development and eventually, to achieve large-scale production of driverless vehicles, the company said.

AUTONOMAI will serve as an interface between the hardware that will react to complex driving scenarios. It will do this by using sensor fusion with sensors from cameras to radar and LiDAR as well as incorporating artificial intelligence (AI) and deep learning. It brings a comprehensive solution covering perception, guidance, navigation and control of the vehicle (GNC); and drive-by-wire systems to hasten the building of driverless vehicles, Tata Elxsi said.

The creation of this platform comes as self driving cars begin to see the light outside of test tracks. With the promise of seeing this kind of transportation in the mainstream, driverless vehicles will need to be able to adapt to local terrain and driving conditions, such training which will be sped up by the licensing of AUTONOMAI. The platform's use of AI and machine learning will help driverless automakers because of its quick region-specific adaptation capabilities.

On the announcement of the AUTONOMAI licensing, Nitin Pai, vice president of marketing at Tata Elxsi, said in a statement.

"We are delighted with this latest win for AUTONOMAI by one of the world's top 5 car OEMs. Car makers will need to ensure that self-driving cars are able to communicate with each other through technologies such as V2X, adapt to different driving conditions, receive real-time maps and over-the-air software updates. As importantly, OEMs need to transform the current HMI to one that leverages AI, multi-modal interfaces, and sensors to ensure passengers are not only safe, but feel safe too."

Tata Elxsi has not yet announced which leading automotive OEM it has licensed this program to, however, the top 5 global carmakers include Volkswagen, General Motors, Ford, Toyota, and Daimler. Business Standard also reports that the company has decided that in the race to make self-driving cars mainstream, they don't want to compete with other companies. Instead, they would like to work with companies such as Google and Intel to speed up the development for their own autonomous vehicles.

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