There are increasing software components to vehicles, with new intelligence being added and them getting more sophisticated. SaaS is a way to deliver the software, and we are seeing more software in the automotive industry. Venkat Nathan, Founder and CEO, Nesh LIVE, talks to us about the start-up’s transition to a vehicle connectivity solutions company, their USP and more.

While we see large players like Tesla choosing to build their vehicle connectivity solutions inhouse, SaaS could be the way to go for medium to small players in the automotive OEM space to enable these solutions. However, they may need to approach companies that offer full-stack SaaS solutions for vehicle connectivity to compete with the large players.

One such company is Nesh LIVE, which provides SaaS solutions for vehicle connectivity and was selected by Stanford University as one of the promising start-ups in India under the Seed Transformation Programme in 2017, and has close to about 100,000 vehicles in its system. Moreover, the start-up has been working with vehicle manufacturers for close to five years now.

“Our solutions are deployed at leading truck, bus and off-road vehicle manufacturers. Besides this, we are also working with electric vehicle (EV) manufacturers right now,” says Venkat Nathan, Founder and CEO, Nesh LIVE. “We are working towards helping these manufacturers extract, transfer and analyse battery and vehicle data in the cloud. This in turn is the bedrock for any mobility – that bedrock is quality data, and quality data comes with connectivity right at the production line and the latest sensors supporting the extractions. So when a vehicle is born, the sensors are put in right at the time of its birth as an OEM fitment rather than leaving it to the customer to buy it as an aftermarket fitment.”

The three-dimensional way
Nesh LIVE’s specialisation is that it works with manufacturers early on and tries to integrate its products into the manufacturing line. That way, the whole ecosystem benefits from quality data. In order to build intelligent insights on data, connectivity has to have all the dimensions, from vehicle data to user-behaviour to the environment. The start-up attacks the automotive OEMs’ problems in this three-dimensional way. Doing this provides insights not just for the manufacturers but for the entire network – everyone in the chain is allowed to see and access information that they are allowed to see and access.

The rating system
“Today, we collect close to 100 million data points a day. Nesh LIVE also provides rating systems for the vehicle as a feature, based on the data they get,” says Nathan and goes on, “This rating is useful for the fleet owner.”

The rating system is provided for the vehicle and drivers, and now Nesh LIVE will be extending very similar algorithms for battery rating of electric vehicles. There are a number of applications for battery rating; for one, it helps the user understand the health of the battery. And secondly, as these batteries come up for reuse in other sectors, the grading system will help decide their afterlife in the long run. In fact, the vehicle rating system helps people anonymously compare their own vehicles within their own fleet and other fleets as well.

“In summary, we identify what data is needed and work with the automotive manufacturers. We then extract that data and send it to the cloud. Once that data is sent to the cloud, we run a lot of analytics in the cloud and then provide insights to different stakeholders,” Nathan makes clear.

Nesh LIVE’s SaaS solution – from ICEs to EVs
Some aspects of the SaaS feature are common, while some are industry-specific. “For instance, bus manufacturers want to know when the bus shows the pick-up location in advance. While all applications need to be highly accurate, the accuracy requirements in the bus segment are much higher within SaaS,” Nathan tells us and goes on, “However, in case of construction equipment like earth movers, for instance, there is greater importance to monitoring its working hours rather than accuracy of its location since it is mostly restricted to select zones. Hence, there are small variations from segment to segment. Even EVs have some variations that we are addressing right now.”

Elaborating further on this, Nathan says, “The EV industry is very interested in having a lot of analytics on battery, especially the charging and discharging cycles and health of the battery. This in turn impacts the range of the vehicle, and the range of a vehicle is dynamic. The dynamic range prediction needs to take into account, along with the driver behaviour, such as braking and speed, the usage of the vehicle, the environment, the road surface etc.”

“The SaaS offerings include the mobile app for the driver. For example, the driver gets push notifications based on what we see in terms of his/her handling the vehicle, the way he/she drives, the battery being due for service etc. Besides, we also educate and engage the user for best practices of the EV vehicle,” he adds.

From mobile applications to vehicle connectivity solutions
In fact, Nesh LIVE was initially into building mobile applications for the fleet industry when the product was launched in 2015, before venturing into vehicle connectivity solutions. However, the transition wasn’t too difficult as the two fields are very related, Nathan claims. He asserts, “When we started back in 2015, we started with applications on the phone, predominantly focused on the driver dimension. We provided the driver with an app, like Ola or Uber do today, and basically tracked the phone. The industry had just begun to explore other forms of connectivity of tracking a vehicle back then. So what started in 2015 as GPS tracking and reporting has slowly morphed into a huge vehicle intelligence and analytics platform.”

GPS tracking was, in truth, seen as a low-end commodity product back in 2015. “So when we approached large automotive suppliers with our solution, they approached it cautiously,” Nathan tells us and continues, “However, we had to really convince them that while today it is only GPS, tomorrow it will be the black box of the vehicle – like the Wi-Fi of a house – enabling connectivity and becoming the point of access to the internet.”

Therefore, while the transition for the company from a technical perspective wasn’t much, convincing customers to adopt the technology and telling them that it would morph into providing intelligence for the vehicle and improving its efficiency and safety was difficult back then. “However, we saw the perspective change after 2019. Today, the end-user wants intelligent insights,” Nathan explains.

He further adds that Nesh LIVE has also created virtual sensors that direct the load of the vehicle. “We can tell if a vehicle is travelling with or without load by algorithms. This has further increased the utilisation of the vehicle,” he informs.

Reinventing and staying ahead
While the start-up has come a long way since its inception, it has to face competition like any other organisation and industry. Nathan cites that Nesh LIVE has competition at two levels – the IoT level and the transporter level.

“The IoT-level competition is quite generic and not focused on automotive; data is collected from any industrial equipment, is processed and analytics on it is provided. It is very broad-based,” he explains and goes on, “On the other hand, Nesh LIVE is very automotive-niche; we have people with experience in automotives and we have worked with automotive companies for nearly seven years. Therefore, we have built up a lot of domain knowledge that comes in handy to provide advanced analytics.”

“At the transporter level, one will find companies providing good GPS tracking solutions to transporters. These competitors are at the transporter level, meeting their respective needs,” Nathan further explains.

Coming to where Nesh LIVE stands out, Nathan highlights, “Our start-up does not provide just for the transporters. Our USP is that we provide a lot of features for the auto manufacturer, including the dealers and service network of the manufacturer. And all of this is automated as a production line fitment at the manufacturing line. So we try to stay ahead by being domain-focused and being a very holistic end-to-end player for the ecosystem – not just for the transporter.”

But staying ahead of the competition is not enough. Nesh LIVE has also been constantly working on enhancing its SaaS platform. The start-up invests 20-30 percent into new R&D initiatives of SaaS and is continuously improving. In fact, it has customers in Canada and has ongoing trials in Dubai and the US. Moreover, it has already run some trials in Nigeria.

Cater to the automotive ecosystem
Today, it’s all about providing intelligent insights, which has been a pull from the end-users themselves. The end-users want to increase their vehicle utilisation and get more revenue out of it. What’s more important is that the software architecture has to show agility for the vehicle from the very first day. Therefore, SaaS technology will not only improve the safety but also the efficiency and operation of every vehicle, and last but not least, help cater to the automotive ecosystem.

Innovation and sustainability in design took centerstage at the 19th Styling & Design Conclave 2025 organised by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM). The event saw participation from designers and professionals from organisation such as Hero MotoCorp, Maruti Suzuki India, Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India, Stratasys and Autodesk among others.

G Sathiyaseelan, Chairman, SIAM Styling and Design Group and Vice-President, Ashok Leyland, shared his views on empathetic, inspirational and innovative approach towards technology and design,

Anuj Prasad, CEO and Founder, Desmania, expressed confidence in the bright future for automotive designers.

The event saw speakers acknowledging that automotive styling has become an old word, while design and sustainability are the modern buzzwords that indicate the direction in which the automotive sector must head.

“The level of design happening in India holds tremendous potential. We are at the threshold of a new era in design and innovation. Today, international organisations are looking to India for designs that cater to both local and global markets. Automotive design will help build the nation in a responsible manner,” said Prasad.

Prashant Banerjee, Executive Director, SIAM stated that “Indian automotive designs today are as good as Italian designs.”

Samarth Gupta, Senior Technical Specialist & Mobility Lead APAC, Autodesk, said, “Everyone wants to own a vehicle because it is an expression of independence. The urban population landscape is changing due to climate change. New developments in geopolitics and the evolution of consumers’ trends and preferences are impacting the mobility landscape. We will need to evolve our auto design thinking amidst disruptions.”

Teofilo Plaza Garcia, Industrial Studio Head, Hero MotoCorp, said “Motorsports-based designs can be used for road-based vehicles, as indicated through Hero XPulse 210. These vehicles will no longer be as expensive as before.”

Rahul Pandita, Regional Head, Stratasys, stated that 3D block printing is a useful technique that has helped companies like McLaren bring racing designs to life quickly. “As design processes such as 3D block printing decrease the time taken, companies can quickly decipher whether a design is feasible or not,” said Pandita.

Dinesh Raman, Director, Transportation Design, KISKA Shanghai, opined that “As the years go by, greater use of AI will be made for design, thereby freeing up time for creative pursuits by automotive designers.”

VS Deka, Group Manager, Royal Enfield, said, “AI innovation is coming into our lives and we need to adopt the evolving technology. AI can be customised through training and then be scaled up as per requirements.”

Ferdinand Klauser, Global Partner & MD, Asia, KISKA Shanghai said, “India has a lot of potential in bringing about the transformation in mobility designing landscape.”

He also mentioned that though the future is unpredictable, it is possible to plan for it by understanding that consumer needs are transforming faster than the market.

Professor Kaustuv Sengupta of NIFT Chennai, stated, “Colour represents around 20 percent of the design language. Every 300 miles in our country, you see a new colour context. Human beings see a small spectrum of colours. Colours affect us psychologically. We see what we want to see.”

Rajesh Gogu, Vice-President (Design), Maruti Suzuki India, revealed that the company decided to create a completely new design for the fourth generation of the Dzire. The design became a success despite a 55 percent market share for SUVs.

“The trends on the road are changing, as demand for sedans have reduced while that of SUVs have grown. Designing can reinvent declining segments or products to make them popular again. Innovation is not just about technology, it is also about shape, form, aerodynamics, performance and more. We can design our vehicles that can reduce the carbon footprint offering better fuel efficiency and value to customers,” averred Gogu.

While describing the role of AI in automotive designing, Harikrishnan AK, Delivery Manager, TCS Design, said, “AI image generators can be used for inspiration, exploration and for happy accidents but there are challenges of confidentiality and originality. We need to harness the full potential of AI by customisation and fine-tuning.”

Speaking about designing in the commercial vehicle segment, Pravin Gaikwad, Head of CV Design, Tata Motors, said, “We have adopted multi-powertrain strategy. It is possible for the form to get you the trust of the customer. Form is actually helping us to define many ideas. We are leveraging tech intelligence like telematics to design something very unique.”

He shared an insight on how Tata Motors was using space intelligence as a new design direction for making Tata Prima trucks and a new space-saving concept called Tata YU.

The SIAM Styling and Design Conclave also presented automotive design students of MIT (Maharashtra Institute of Technology), ADYPU (Ajeenkya DY Patil University) and NID (National Institute of Design) an opportunity to present their design prototypes. Vedant Barve, a student at MIT, won the first prize for an electric cruiser scooter concept.

“When we began, India had only two design schools. Today, there are over 1,500 design schools producing a strong talent pool for automotive design. We need to be transformative and move toward defining automotive design that is human-centric and sustainable,” added Prasad of Desmania.

“To make India into a global design hub, change that helps India use aspects of its culture while competing at a global level is needed in the academic curriculum,” concluded Sumer Singh, Associate Professor, IIT Delhi.

German tier 1 supplier Continental has announced its latest solution for the automotive industry, the Ac2ated Sound display, a first-of-its-kind in the industry that uses a display surface to bring high-quality audio output.

The technology will not only enable space saving but also could enable significant weight reduction and allow for more innovative solutions to be integrated.

The Ac2ated system uses actuators installed behind the display surface and induce audible vibrations in the glass. The company stated that humans have an intuitive ability to identify the origin of a detected sound in a three-dimensional space, which is referred to ‘sound localisation’. In simple terms, humans, when hearing any sound, have a natural tendency to try and identify the source of the sound. In the automotive industry, the Ac2ated Sound display can create a more immersive experience as the display itself could be used like a sound box.

Given the smaller footprint of the actuators, the solution can be implemented in various flat components of the vehicle interiors.

Continental claims that Ac2ated Sound system requires up to 90 percent less space and can offer up to 40 kilograms of weight saving compared to conventional speaker systems.

Pavel Prouza, Head of User Experience (UX) Business Area, Continental, said, “By integrating actuators into the display, we have succeeded in using the entire display surface as a sound chamber to resonate sound within the vehicle – all in exceptional quality. Not only does this save valuable space in the vehicle interior, but it also reduces weight compared with traditional speakers. The system leverages our full expertise as a system integrator for the benefit of our customers – combining visual and audio output in a single package without compromising on quality.”

TVS Supply Chain Solutions, a global supply chain solutions provider, has announced changes to its leadership structure with the appointment of R Vaidhyanathan as its new Global Chief Financial Officer (CFO) effective 1 April 2025. He succeeds Raviprakash Bhagavathula, who will transition to the new role of Head of Strategic Initiatives and move to Singapore.

At present, Vaidhyanathan serves as Deputy Global CFO and has held various positions in Finance within the organisation. He had joined the company in January 2019 and has worked across various leadership financial roles the position, and is credited to play a key role in significant enhancements to the productivity of the finance function.

Ravi Viswanathan, Managing Director, TVS Supply Chain Solutions, said, “We are delighted to appoint R Vaidhyanathan as our new Global CFO. His strong track record in driving financial performance, optimising cash flow, and fostering a culture of operational excellence has been instrumental in our growth journey. I am confident that his deep understanding of our business and his strategic vision will help us continue to innovate and scale as we move into the next phase of growth journey. We also express our sincere gratitude to Raviprakash Bhagavathula for his invaluable contributions since 2018 as CFO, especially for leading TVS SCS to a successful public listing. We look forward to his leadership in driving our strategic initiatives.”

Both Vaidhyanathan and Bhagavathula will report to Ravi Viswanathan, MD, TVS Supply Chain Solutions.  

British premium luxury car brand Aston Martin has joined hands with Curv Racing Simulators to introduce limited edition AMR-CO1-R simulator with prices starting GBP 58,750 (INR 5.98 million) plus tax. The deliveries are set to begin in April 2025.

Limited to just 50 units, the AMR-CO1-R builds up on the AMR-CO1 and now features precision ergonomics, cutting-edge hardware and even more immersive racing experience.

The partnership sees Aston Martin join forces with three-time Le Mans winner and simulator specialist Darren Turner, who currently leads Curv Racing Simulators. The AMR-C01-R continues to use the all-carbon fibre monocoque and signature Aston Martin Racing grille. The seating position has been revised and inspired by Aston Martin Valkyrie. The new model can now be further adjusted for more comfort and accessibility, especially for taller drivers.

The simulator uses a 49-inch G95C monitor with a 1000R curvature with 240Hz refresh rate (previously 120Hz) and 1ms response time (previously 4ms), which delivers seamless and razor-sharp visuals. Furthermore, the addition of HDR10+ Gaming brings to life more vivid colours and deeper contrast. Thanks to the Nvidia GeForce RTX 5090 graphics card, Intel 14th-generation processor, 32GB DDR5 memory (up from 16GB), and 2TB M.2 SSD storage enable real-immersive gaming performance and ample space for an extensive racing library.

Marek Reichman, Chief Creative Officer, Aston Martin, said, “Curv’s latest simulator is an exciting continuation of the AMR-C01, which was launched in 2020. With improved performance, and a seating position inspired by Valkyrie, this is as close to driving an Aston Martin on-track that a racer will experience. The design itself, like any Aston Martin, will fit into a residence as a sculptural work of art, not just a traditional racing simulator.”

Darren Turner, Founder, Curv Racing Simulators, added, “The AMR-C01 was a game-changer when it launched in 2020, and the AMR-C01-R takes it to the next level. We’ve refined the ergonomics and performance, to make it even more immersive, intuitive, and future-proof. For those who demand the very best, this is the ultimate racing simulator."