‘We’re Already a Competitor to Tesla’: Bhopal Startup CEO, Whose Automated Mahindra Bolero Went Viral

Mahindra Group Chairman Anand Mahindra recently shared a video on social media of a modified Bolero SUV with self-driving capability, navigating the busy Bhopal streets. The person behind the transformation, Sanjeev Sharma of Swaayatt Robots said he had demonstrated a technology ready to navigate Indian streets.

In an interview to News18, he said his startup is a competitor to Elon Musk’s Tesla. While most experts say that fully autonomous cars are still 10 years away, including Tesla, Sharma said with funding and resources, his startup can achieve this goal soon.

“What we are demonstrating is a tech ready to navigate the traffic of India with utmost accuracy. We are already a competitor of Tesla. Give us some more funding and resources and we can literally solve the automation problem by the end of the year,” said Sharma, who is the CEO and founder of Swaayatt Robots.

Sharma explained how it all began and how his company became a viable contender to Tesla. Recalling his IIT Roorkee days, he said his journey began when he came across some videos by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) for the DARPA Urban Challenge, which ignited his passion for exploring the complexities of autonomous driving in dynamic traffic environments.

Over the years, Sharma built a strong mathematical foundation to be able to develop the autonomous driving technology that social media users saw in the viral video. Not only IIT Roorkee, he spent time in Israel as a research assistant professor, spent a tenure at the University of Alberta in computer science, and was a research assistant to Professor Richard S Sutton, who is considered the godfather of reinforcement learning.

Sharma founded Swaayatt Robots in 2015, after he returned to India in 2014. He marked the formalisation of his aspirations, initially propelled by a modest investment of his own funds. Over the years, he said, the team meticulously polished its technology through research and testing, clocking over several demos on Indian roads.

The recent Bolero testing near Kankali Kali Mata temple in Bhopal was their 80th attempt. “At the heart of Swaayatt Robots lies a commitment to fundamental research and development,” he said, adding, “we’ve pioneered advancements in artificial intelligence, mathematics, and theoretical computer science, leveraging reinforcement learning to redefine autonomous navigation.”

A cornerstone achievement of Swaayatt Robots lies in their successful integration of autonomous technology into a diverse range of vehicles, notably the Mahindra Bolero SUV, Sharma said.

“By automating the Bolero, we’ve demonstrated the universality of our technology,” he said, while highlighting the fact that “this underscores our capability to automate any vehicle on the planet. And, if we can run an automated car in India, then we can run it anywhere”.

Sharma said in terms of off-road and on-road driving, navigating the path, avoiding high-speed traffic as well as animals on the road, and obstacle avoidance at high speed, Swaayatt Robots is capable of doing all this.

“In certain areas, we are not just competing but leading… And people can look into all our off-road autonomous driving demos. They can compare it with the Kodiak Robotics demo, or the RACER program,” he said.

“We are doing both on and off-road. There is no company, any startup, that can manage both on and off-road and we have done it in just $3 million funding that we received in 2021,” he added.

But, when it comes to more development and commercialisation of this technology, Sharma said taking the next step will need more funding. “At present, additional funding is the key barrier to scaling up our technology. With an investment of around $15 million, we will be able to expand our presence and accelerate the development of our autonomous navigation solutions,” he said.