Maruti collaborates with five start-ups

Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) on Monday said it has selected five start-ups under its Mobility & Automobile Innovation Lab (MAIL) programme.

MAIL is an initiative by the company to identify and bring together startups with innovative and cutting-edge solutions to collaborate for open innovation in mobility and automobile space.

Commenting on the development, MSI MD and CEO Kenichi Ayukawa said several disruptions are taking place in the auto space.

"Since inception Maruti Suzuki has strived to offer products and services that are ahead of regulations and match the needs of the evolving Indian customers, while retaining the interests of our stakeholders. We are optimistic that partnering with these startups, we will enter into a new era of mobility and automobile solutions," he added.

Ayukawa said the company now aims to work along with startups and enhance scalability of the solutions.

"These intelligent solutions will help enhance customer experience, among others," he added.

Post selection into the first cohort, all the five startups underwent an extensive three months long acceleration programme where they were mentored by various experts from both domestic as well as international startup ecosystem.

Concurrently, they received guidance from domain experts at Maruti Suzuki.

The startups were given access to Maruti Suzuki's test bed and facilities to understand the current scenario and suggest solutions to fit business needs.

The five startups -- SenseGiz, Xane, Eyedentify, Enmovil, Docketrun, deal with mostly artificial intelligence concepts.