At the Auto Expo, the home-grown Automated Guided Vehicle (AGV) ferries visitors from one pavilion to another. Today it drew the attention of Nitin Gadkari, minister of Road Transport and Highways, who saw experienced its operation first-hand and lauded The Hi-Tech Robotic Systemz Ltd (THRL) team for developing the vehicle.

Novus-Drive, the first driverless shuttle in the country, can seat 14 people and can autonomously navigate on its own with its high fidelity sensors and robust algorithms  for path planning and navigation. The vehicle is indigenously manufactured at THRSL’s Gurgaon facility. It is a fully  made-in-India product with all its research and development having taken place in Gurgaon.

Thanks to being battery run, the vehicle is 100 percent environment friendly and runs 150 kilometres per charge.  Its safety features include autonomous emergency braking.  It uses 3d lidars, GPS/INS and stereo vision cameras for its external world perception and is controlled with a deeply integrated drive-by-wire system. The user can enter the destination over a tablet mounted on the vehicle. Once the destination is entered, the vehicle starts its journey. It reaches the destination without any hiccups, pausing and moving according to the direction and road congestion.

According to THRL, these vehicles have been manufactured mainly for commuting in controlled locations and are best suited for intra-university travel, large office campus, elderly health care communities, trade fair and theme parks along with the upcoming smart cities in India. 

THRSL, which was set up in 2004, is India's first and pioneering company in the field of intelligent systems, mobile robotics, artificial intelligence and computer vision. The company says it has successfully developed and commercialised a wide range of robotic products catering to defence, homeland security and industrial Sectors.

A visibly pleased Nitin Gadkari said, "I am delighted to witness this driver less vehicle. It is not only a made-in-India vehicle but it also addresses environmental concerns. It gives me immense pleasure to see that the young generation is involved in the R&D of this project. I wish them luck for their  future endeavours.”   

According to Anuj Kapuria, director and CEO, THRSL, “This AGV is the first driver-less vehicle made in India and will revolutionise transport in large campuses and townships.”