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Indian automotive giant Tata Motors has announced the launch of a program aimed at promoting collaboration with startups and technology companies to encourage innovation.
On Wednesday, the company launched Tata Motors AutoMobility Collaboration Network 2.0 (TACNet 2.0). According to the press release, TACNet 2.0 is a platform that will allow Tata Motors to “engage with start-ups and technology companies to easily connect with them, spark innovative solutions in the automotive technologies and mobility ecosystem and explore synergies.”
The announcement comes at a time when the Indian auto sector is facing a massive slowdown. According to the data from SIAM (Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers), the overall domestic sales fell 23.55 percent to 18,21,490 units in August 2019 – falling for the fifth consecutive month of the Financial Year 2019-20, India Today reported.
Tata Motors said that the themes for TACNet 2.0 are centered on areas that are of its immediate interest and includes directly applicable solutions for blockchain in automotive, parking marketplace, NLP native chatbot, demand prediction algorithm, real-time monitoring of fuel quality (BSVI) and authenticating genuine spare parts.
Shailesh Chandra, President – Electric Mobility Business & Corporate Strategy, Tata Motors Ltd., noted that the automotive industry is undergoing a rigorous transformation phase with new and advanced technologies disrupting manufacturing, operations, supply-chain, customer experience and more.
"In the current age of uncertainty and speed of change, the above effort of sourcing solutions will need to be driven both through in-house initiatives as well as collaborating with external partners,” Chandra said. “TACNet will enable the outside world in connecting with us for such innovation and collaboration opportunities. We are looking forward to unlocking the potential of India’s finest startups and technology and solution based companies."
Meanwhile, other subsidiaries of Tata Group are also actively involved in the blockchain space. In March, IT firm Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) announced that it was developing scalable cross-industry blockchain platform solutions using technologies from Microsoft and R3. Last month, telecom firm Tata Communications joined the governing council of Hedera Hashgraph, a distributed ledger platform for enterprises.
