Leveraging Artificial Intelligence And Deep Learning To Improve Road And Driver Safety – Avneesh Agrawal, CEO & Founder Netradyne

2017 saw a lot of buzz around Artificial intelligence(AI) with a lot of innovative advances witnessed. According to Gartner Inc. AI is going to be one of the biggest the trends. It will be the number one driver of business change with reports suggesting the market size to reach $20 billion by 2022. While with over 400 people killed in road accidents every day and over 1.3 million people killed in India over the past one decade. There is a dire need to improve road safety in India.

Artificial Intelligence can prominently play a role in bridging the gap by improving efficiency in driving patterns. Implementing Artificial intelligence into automobiles will help regulate and better manage traffic, ensuring a safer tomorrow. Established companies and start-ups are looking to address this issue by bringing in cutting edge technology in the hope of reducing the number of casualties while improving efficiency in driving patterns.

Netradyne is a company, pioneering in driver safety platform for Commercial Vehicles by leveraging Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning for improving fleet safety. This Bangalore based start-up is leading the charge with AI in the US and India. Siddharth from BW Businessworld talks to Avneesh Agrawal, CEO and Founder, about their innovation and its impact.

How exactly is Netradyne trying to use technologies like A.I, Machine Learning, 3D mapping etc. to improve road safety in India?

Netradyne focusses on leveraging cutting-edge technology like Artificial Intelligence and Deep Learning to improve road and driver safety. Netradyne’s product DriveriTM is a computer vision-based driver safety system. Using its proprietary deep learning algorithms and edge computing, DriveriTM helps in identifying and reducing unsafe driving events and also in recognizing and rewarding positive driving performance. 

Tell us about Netradyne’s Products/Solutions?

Driveri is a driver monitoring and coaching device. The device’s features include multiple high def cameras, LTE, GPS, accelerometer, gyro, and an advanced NVIDIA processing unit with one TFLOP compute power. It is a multi-sensor integrated, cloud connected platform designed to enhance driver safety using real-time ADAS functionality. It also provides fleet managers with a comprehensive view of drivers’ activity enabling them to create proper incentives to encourage safe driving.   

A Dashcam, which is a small, non-intrusive device, has found less takers in India. How do you see the Indian market in terms of adoption of new technologies?

The automobile market in India is heavily skewed towards vehicles in the economy bracket and so far has largely been a follower of technology with emphasis on utility of the features for Indian driving conditions. Relatively poorer traffic and road conditions pose a technical challenge for adoption in the Indian market. These are the primary the reasons that auto companies in India have been slow in adopting tech-oriented solutions. Driveri has been trained to work in India’s complex driving environment. By providing a fully managed service and sophisticated technology at an affordable price, we are confident that we will see large scale adoption of Driveri in India. 

How has the industry response been to Netradyne’s Product/Solutions?

We have seen great response from various industry stakeholders so far. Globally we have received positive feedback from both drivers and fleet managers and see strong uptake of our product. In India we are working across segments like OEMs, Ride sharing companies and Commercial and Corporate fleets. Close co-ordination with customers and customization of the product to Indian needs has helped us with quick wins in a short time.

Looking from Indian point of view, how important do you think is ADAS today and in future

Road safety is a major concern in India and across the globe. With increasing urbanization, higher vehicular density on the roads and bumper to bumper traffic, there is a strong need for continuous observation of traffic while on the move. Technologies like ADAS by definition are designed to assist the driver in this task and traverse the journey with safety. Netradyne’s Real Time Coach warns the drivers of any impending danger and helps averts accidents. Our Collision Warning and Distracted Driver detections have proven to be immensely helpful for this purpose.  

With the number of accidents going up by the day it is crucial that we try to address the issue of road safety. There is significant human cost involved with India alone responsible for 135K traffic related deaths/year. Positively modulating driver behavior using ADAS technology can have a very significant and positive impact on road safety in India. 

Who are your target customers?

Our target customers range from original equipment manufacturers to commercial, corporate and ride sharing fleets. 

What new products or technologies can expect from Netradyne in Future?

We will continue to further refine our hardware and improve the algorithms. With the large amount of data that we are collecting, our detection of a variety of objects can be refined and deployed at an ever-increasing speed. We will continue to enhance the product towards various levels of Autonomous Driving.

With the government’s initiative towards smart cities and Connected vehicles, what do you think about the future for mobility in India?

In the days to come, we shall get to witness tremendous progress in the automotive sector where electrical vehicles, autonomous driving and intelligent transportation systems are going to be the leading trends in technology. India should focus on being a center of excellence for developing these solutions for global markets while adapting them for local conditions.