Netradyne, govt talk driver-monitoring systems for commercial vehicles

AI fleet-safety firm is testing its technology with Indian commercial vehicle makers for factory-level integration as it looks to expand beyond the US market

Artificial intelligence (AI)-powered fleet-safety company Netradyne is engaging with the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) and road-safety authorities as it makes a case for driver-monitoring systems to be made mandatory for commercial vehicles (CVs) in India, while simultaneously testing its technology with vehicle manufacturers for factory-level integration.

 

“One of our proposals is that if driver monitoring can be made mandatory, it could significantly reduce road accidents by coaching the driver,” said Teja Gudena, executive vice president – engineering at Netradyne.

 

The San Diego-headquartered company's technology uses AI and computer vision to detect driver behaviour — such as drowsiness, distraction, mobile-phone usage, and failure to wear a seat belt — and issue real-time alerts to the driver as well as notify fleet managers.

 

Gudena said CVs could be the starting point for such a requirement. “Making it mandatory for commercial fleets would be a great starting point, but again these are all government choices,” he said.

 

The proposal comes as the government steps up the use of technology for vehicles and road safety. MoRTH has already mandated Driver Drowsiness Detection and Alert Systems under AIS-184 for relevant categories of vehicles from January 1, 2028, along with other advanced driver-assistance systems. Electronic stability control and Advanced Emergency Braking Systems for trucks are to become mandatory from October 2027.

 

In August, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) and the National Road Safety Board (NRSB) also identified commercial-vehicle safety, Intelligent Transport Systems, and technology-enabled interventions among six strategic areas for improving safety on national highways.

 

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“We met the Supreme Court Committee on Road Safety a month back, and the discussion was: the new vehicles that come on the road every year are contributing, I think, about 5 per cent or 7 per cent to the total vehicle count. And what about the remaining 90-95 per cent Because if those are not safe, safety will not be reached,” said Amit Kumar, vice-president – marketing (EMEA & APAC) at Netradyne.

 

Kumar said the company was also seeing interest from state governments. Without identifying the state, he said a pilot was due to start there next month, covering a combination of transport buses and tourism taxis. The pilot would generate data that could help the state evaluate the case for regulation, he added.

 

At the same time, Netradyne is working with CV manufacturers on integrating its technology into vehicles at the factory level.

 

“Some testing is happening,” Gudena said when asked whether Indian OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) had begun testing the technology. The company is engaged with “a couple of top OEMs” in India and globally, though he declined to identify them.

 

Factory integration, however, could take time. “OEM engagements are very, very time-consuming,” Gudena said, adding that manufacturers typically test the technology extensively before signing off on integration, and have demanding technology and integration standards.

 

India is also becoming an important growth market for the company. Its customers here span oil and gas, cash transportation, automobile carriers, and metal transportation, while discussions are underway for corporate and global capability centre (GCC) employee-transport fleets.

 

“India definitely is very strong. India, the way I see it, is like a very dormant market,” Gudena said, referring to the potential for greater adoption of driver-safety technology among fleets.

 

Netradyne is simultaneously expanding outside North America, which currently accounts for 90-95 per cent of its business. It has expanded its presence in Europe through an acquisition in the Netherlands, recently entered Japan, and is preparing its product for West Asia, where discussions with potential customers are underway.

 

“The reason for the acquisition that happened in Europe is that we want to go full speed in Europe and the UK,” Gudena said. The company is also building a team in Japan, a market where, he said, technology expectations are particularly high.

 

Netradyne says its technology can detect unsafe behaviour and issue alerts in real time, with most AI inference taking place on the device rather than in the cloud. The company claims precision rates of around 95 per cent for its major alerts. Gudena also said customers had reported significant reductions in accidents and other unwanted events following deployment.

 

“A lot of our customers say that after deploying this technology, accidents (and) unwanted events have come down significantly, more than 50 per cent,” he said.

 

Almost all of Netradyne's engineering and product development is based in Bengaluru, according to Gudena, with only a small group of machine-learning specialists and PhDs based in San Diego.

 

The company, which raised $90 million in a Series D funding round in 2025, is sufficiently funded at present, Gudena said. While an initial public offering (IPO) would “eventually” happen, he declined to indicate a timeline.