[wheelguy]

Maruti Suzuki India, the country's largest carmaker has begun accepting applications from startups for the third cohort of its Mobility & Automobile Innovation Lab (MAIL) program. The carmaker had started the program in January 2019, to promote innovation in the automobile mobility space in India.

The program aims to identify and bring together startups with innovative and cutting-edge solutions, and to collaborate with them for open innovation. The winners get an opportunity to undertake a paid Proof of Concept (PoC) with Maruti Suzuki for live use case and a possibility of real time implementation of the solutions offered. The applications for the third cohort will be accepted till November 30, 2019.

The MAIL program is supported by GHV Accelerator, which caters to early stage startups with innovative and customer-oriented solutions. Analyzing the potential of the applicants, necessary support and guidance is provided for their growth as a part of a 3-month acceleration period. The selected startups are mentored by domain experts at Maruti Suzuki, in addition to the guidance provided by experts from the Indian as well as the Global startup ecosystem.

Furthermore, the projects get a firm footing in a conducive environment to test feasibility across the vast test beds of Maruti Suzuki showrooms, workshops, logistics, engineering to name a few.

Speaking on the initiative, Kenichi Ayukawa, MD and CEO, Maruti Suzuki India said, “The ever-evolving automobile industry comes across fresh challenges every day and the industry needs innovative ideas and pragmatic solutions to address these disruptions. As a key stakeholder, we are committed to nurture and promote a culture of innovation. MAIL program acts as a catalyst and provides the selected startups with a platform to translate their ideas into implementable solutions.”

“With the success of the previous cohorts, we are confident of co-creating cutting edge solutions which will disrupt the automobile and mobility space,” added Ayukawa.

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Source: Autocar Professional

[vishy76]

Could someone please come up with a stable body shell for their hatchbacks that can survive crash tests? That would be a cutting edge idea (For Suzuki) if you ask me. It's an idea I am sure they might have never thought of.

Autonomous vehicles and the likes can surely wait.

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Originally Posted by vishy76

Could someone please come up

Although on one side, Maruti does deserve to be criticized on this safety aspect - but let's not undermine this initiative by pulling in that topic which is quite irrelevant here.

This initiative is to identify and groom startups. From last round, five startups were supported with funding and mentoring until they reached the proof-of-concept stage, and three went on to receive paid projects with Maruti Suzuki.

1. https://www.sensegiz.com/
2. https://xane.ai/
3. https://www.eyedentify.ai/

Maruti gets access to fresh ideas and talent, for much cheaper resources than needed for corporate R&D. Whereas the startup companies get much sought after funding and support. Win-win for both?