Name of the Company: Flux Auto
Name of Founder (s): Pranav Manpuria and Abhishek Gupta
City: Bengaluru
Revenues: NA
Headcount: 24
Industry: Autonomous vehicles
Investors Details & Amount raised: Bootstrapped
While the global giants may have decided to stay away from the dusty and the pothole-ridden roads of India in their race to be hailed as the pioneers of self-driven technology; a young Bengaluru-based startup believes the chaotic, poorly-kept roads of India are ideal grounds for them to master their self-driving technology.
"For us, the more chaotic the roads are, the more data we get and the more trained our algorithm becomes. Indian roads are helping us
to make a far sturdier and sophisticated algorithm for our self-driving technology," says Flux Auto, cofounder, Pranav Manpuria.
"Currently, that truck - The General Lee - is able to self drive in a controlled environment. It does things like lane keeping, lane changing, curved road, speed signs, stop signs and more. Our goal is to have our vehicle driving itself on highways," shares Manpuria
The primary goal: Commercial viability
While global giants are all using LIDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) as the most precise system to develop their self-driving technology on; the exorbitant cost is turning out to be prohibitory in the plans of commercialisation. Since commercialisation has been the primary objective of Flux Auto, the startup ditched LIDAR in favour of developing its own sensors.
"Our entire sensor system costs 10% of the cost of a single LIDAR - and without the high processing requirement. Our goal of commercialisation can be achieved only if the price point is realistic. This took us on a search for vision systems and other sensors," says Manpuria.
Flux Auto uses vision systems (cameras) and other sensors - the device currently operates with six cameras - one forward-facing, one rear-facing and four deployed on the vehicles' sides. But can the system provide as much precision as the one using LIDAR? Manpuria says that the system is highly reliable.
Autonomy: Necessity over aspiration
Challenging the narrative of the self-driving industry at each step, the founders of Flux Auto decided to develop Level 3 autonomy for trucks - instead of enabling a vehicle to drive itself throughout with zero human interference. 'Level 3' autonomy needs no human controlling the drive, till the time the vehicle is playing on highways.
Being a 'Level 3' system, the system is meant to self-drive during the long-haul distances which the commercial trucks undertake daily in their journeys. The drivers are expected to take over once the vehicle gets off the highway. This is expected to increase the drivers' productivity, reduce accident rates, and help the companies generate more revenues.
Read more at:
Beating Google, Tesla, this startup's self-driving truck is all set to hit Indian roads
Name of Founder (s): Pranav Manpuria and Abhishek Gupta
City: Bengaluru
Revenues: NA
Headcount: 24
Industry: Autonomous vehicles
Investors Details & Amount raised: Bootstrapped
While the global giants may have decided to stay away from the dusty and the pothole-ridden roads of India in their race to be hailed as the pioneers of self-driven technology; a young Bengaluru-based startup believes the chaotic, poorly-kept roads of India are ideal grounds for them to master their self-driving technology.
"For us, the more chaotic the roads are, the more data we get and the more trained our algorithm becomes. Indian roads are helping us
to make a far sturdier and sophisticated algorithm for our self-driving technology," says Flux Auto, cofounder, Pranav Manpuria.
"Currently, that truck - The General Lee - is able to self drive in a controlled environment. It does things like lane keeping, lane changing, curved road, speed signs, stop signs and more. Our goal is to have our vehicle driving itself on highways," shares Manpuria
The primary goal: Commercial viability
While global giants are all using LIDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) as the most precise system to develop their self-driving technology on; the exorbitant cost is turning out to be prohibitory in the plans of commercialisation. Since commercialisation has been the primary objective of Flux Auto, the startup ditched LIDAR in favour of developing its own sensors.
"Our entire sensor system costs 10% of the cost of a single LIDAR - and without the high processing requirement. Our goal of commercialisation can be achieved only if the price point is realistic. This took us on a search for vision systems and other sensors," says Manpuria.
Flux Auto uses vision systems (cameras) and other sensors - the device currently operates with six cameras - one forward-facing, one rear-facing and four deployed on the vehicles' sides. But can the system provide as much precision as the one using LIDAR? Manpuria says that the system is highly reliable.
Autonomy: Necessity over aspiration
Challenging the narrative of the self-driving industry at each step, the founders of Flux Auto decided to develop Level 3 autonomy for trucks - instead of enabling a vehicle to drive itself throughout with zero human interference. 'Level 3' autonomy needs no human controlling the drive, till the time the vehicle is playing on highways.
Being a 'Level 3' system, the system is meant to self-drive during the long-haul distances which the commercial trucks undertake daily in their journeys. The drivers are expected to take over once the vehicle gets off the highway. This is expected to increase the drivers' productivity, reduce accident rates, and help the companies generate more revenues.
Read more at:
Beating Google, Tesla, this startup's self-driving truck is all set to hit Indian roads
