Disruptions present an opportunity: Tata Elxsi

Tata Elxsi, a provider of design and technology services across industries and part of the Tata Group, said technology and market disruptions were its ‘favourites’ and that it had been thriving on such disruptions, especially in automotives.

“Any technology disruption is an opportunity for us, and in automotive, we have a number of disruptions happening. The jury is still out on which way it will move. These are exciting times, and a company like ours thrives on disruptions,” Manoj Raghavan, CEO & MD, Tata Elxsi, told The Hindu.

“Wherever there is a disruption, there are new services, new capabilities and new needs. To address these, companies have to develop new products, new services and innovative platforms. Tata Elxsi is geared up to cater to such a changing market and customer requirements. We follow the trends and in many cases, we have been ahead of trends,’’ he said.

One disruption coming in a big way is in the form of electric vehicles (EVs) and the charging infrastructure with a significant proportion of power coming from renewables. Mr. Raghavan said in 2-3 years, a number of companies would facilitate the transition to EVs.

Traditional fuel suppliers such as Indian Oil and Bharat Petroleum would start having charging stations at all their pumps and it was only a matter of time before the charging infrastructure happened, he said.

Also, cars are going to be connected, he added“Right now, a lot of services can be provided over a connected car, especially in electric cars. We are talking about intelligent cars. How do you tell the driver where the next charging station is? Even if you have a charging station, how do you know that it is empty?” asked Mr. Raghavan.

Tata Elxsi has been working on connected car infrastructure and autonomous driving solutions for many global customers. “Some of these technologies are already licensed to car OEMs.

“They are in trials. Beyond passenger cars, they are being used in commercial and off-road vehicles and agricultural equipment where you can use the same platform,” he added.

According to him, India’s power scenario is changing rapidly. From barely five to six years ago, when solar and wind were not a major component, renewables are now a significant proportion of power production.