Bengaluru-based Minus Zero unveils zPod autonomous driving concept

Minus Zero, a Bengaluru-based autonomous driving start-up, has unveiled the zPod, which it claims is India’s first autonomous vehicle. The zPod showcases the full self-driving tech developed by the artificial intelligence (AI) firm.

Minus Zero says it's not an automotive manufacturer, rather it’s a tech firm that will provide its autonomous driving tech to other manufacturers to help improve their ADAS suite. 

1. zPod may not be put into production
2. Minus Zero uses its proprietary nature-inspired AI for autonomous driving
3. Firm will provide its tech to manufacturers to help improve their ADAS suite

Minus Zero’s AI tech

The zPod is merely a technological showcase of what it is trying to achieve, says Minus Zero, adding that its motives are to reduce traffic congestion, as well as road accidents and the injuries and fatalities associated with them. Citing an example of Bengaluru, Gursimran Kalra, COO of Minus Zero, says the city "wastes 2.5 lakh litres of fuel every hour, every day just in traffic", and that all the costs of the inefficiencies when accumulated together "leads to whopping $22 billion of losses to a single nation over a period of one year." 

Unlike many autonomous vehicles, the zPod does not employ the use of LIDAR (light detection and ranging) but uses an array of six cameras – four on the sides and two at the front and back. 

The firm also showcased its True Vision Autonomy concept, which uses the aforementioned cameras as its sensors to navigate obstacles. As per Minus Zero, the concept can be adapted to any existing vehicle form factor, be it EVs or ICE. It says its autonomous driving tech could also be retrofitted to existing cars on the road, provided they come with an engine control module.

Minus Zero claims that it will solve a few key problems – like expensive hardware, the requirement of extensive data and navigation through complex traffic conditions as well as unruly infrastructure – faced during the development of autonomous vehicles with its new form of AI it calls Nature Inspired AI (NIA). The current paradigm used in AI development is prone to fail in conditions it is not trained in, says Minus Zero, adding that it will employ the use of physics-aware vision and predictive decision-making like a human brain. 

Minus Zero zPod concept

As mentioned, the zPod is an autonomous vehicle that can drive in any geographical and environmental condition using its camera suite. Minus Zero claims it can scale up to autonomous level 5 – basically have no human intervention while driving in real-world conditions – with its AI tech. 

The zPod is a four-seater electric vehicle that has its seats facing each other and does not feature any controls and layout of a conventional car. All of the driving is done by the AI and it processes all of the information from the images captured by the cameras in real-time to make an informed decision. The use of the camera suite will help bring down the costs, as per Minus Zero. 

It says in the near future, the use case of the zPod and its AI tech will be limited to in-campus mobility – transportation within the confines of a geo-fence, away from public roads. The zPod can be used in places like educational campuses, residential areas, tech parks etc. 

Will Minus Zero zPod be put in production?

Interestingly, Minus Zero says it has no intention to put the zPod into production and that it was merely a showcase of the AI-based autonomous driving technology it has developed. As per the firm, the zPod can be an inspiration for automakers to explore new possibilities for vehicle design that is not driver-centric.  

At what level of autonomous driving will you be comfortable? Let us know in the comments. 

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The new brain for self-driving cars that’s as quick as yours