UNO Minda and Microsoft partner for connected vehicle tech in India

Minda iConnect, the connected vehicle and telematics arm of the UNO Minda Group, and Microsoft India have announced a strategic collaboration to drive connected vehicle technologies for the automotive industry in India.

The two firms aim to enhance in-vehicle connectivity and efficiency to provide an enriched driving experience to automotive users in the country. Microsoft will help UNO Minda develop technologies that will bring together artificial intelligence (AI), advanced machine learning, and the Internet of Things (IoT) capabilities on the Microsoft Azure cloud.  These technologies will help create highly personalised, smart and safer driving experience for vehicle drivers.

According to Rajiv Sodhi, Cloud and Enterprise Lead, Microsoft India, “Minda iConnect is a pioneer in developing connected vehicle technologies in India. We believe that the power Microsoft Azure cloud and Azure IOT services will bring secure and faster connected experiences to vehicle drivers in the country.”

Commenting on the partnership, Ravi Jakhodia, CEO Minda iConnect, said,” We are really excited about this partnership as Microsoft’s fast-paced innovation cycle will create a fully connected and seamless driving experience for the end customers. This partnership puts in place the right building blocks as we aim to connect millions of vehicles across passenger and commercial segments.”

Both companies will work together to identify the needs of the end customer and work with automobile companies to meet these needs better via the connected vehicle technologies. As part of this collaboration, Microsoft and Minda work on technologies for both the passenger car and commercial vehicle automobile manufacturers to significantly enhance customer experience. These comprise:

Safety and Security: Some of the key development areas in the next two years will include real- time benchmarking of driving behaviour, real-time coaching, vehicle to vehicle, and vehicle to infrastructure communication. In addition, fleet owners will be enabled to better incentivise their drivers to improve both fleet efficiency and driver safety.

Convenience and ease of ownership: A big focus will be to bring the right ecosystem partners onto the platform to provide a seamless vehicle management experience for end customers. For example, seamless road side assistance, insurance renewals and usage based insurance would be some of the upcoming features.

Content and entertainment: With 4G networks now becoming prevalent in India, audio video and news content with connected vehicle program will be some of the key highlights for end consumers.

Also read: Tata Motors and Microsoft partner for enhanced in-car connectivity 

How Microsoft’s Connected Vehicle Platform is helping automakers transform cars