Duo partner to bring high tech navigation system to India

The partnership was a result of work by the Coventry-based innovation scouting team at the Tata Motors European Technical Centre (TMETC).

The partnership is a first for the Indian automotive industry enabling drivers to enter a what3words address by voice or text input, and then navigate to the location within three metres of the destination.

This technology is particularly beneficial in India where addresses are non-standard and complex network of roads make it difficult for last-mile navigation.

Anthony Gallego, Strategic Partnership Development Manager based at TMETC, said UK technology-spotters identified the benefits of what3words for the Indian market.

“In 2017 TMETC formed a group tasked with exploring innovative start-ups technologies in Europe,” he said. "The dedicated team investigate forward-thinking technology with the aim of helping to bring it to the corporate market. The clarity of what3words for the Indian market was instantly apparent so we were delighted to forge a close partnership to introduce the technology to Indian consumers.”

what3words is already available in 37 languages, however, the partnership with Tata Motors has enabled the company to broaden its dialects with a further the introduction of five native Indian languages: Hindi, Bengali, Tamil, Telugu and Marathi. 

Mr Mayank Pareek, President - Passenger Vehicle Business Unit (PVBU), Tata Motors added: "The three-word addressing will not only provide a more seamless navigation experience, but will also increase efficiency with drivers not spending a lot of time locating their destinations and reaching the precise location (within 3m of space) with minimum hassle and effort.

“Globally, the what3words technology comes as a unique offering only in the premium car models, but customers can expect this ground-breaking technology to feature in our mainstream line-up of products very soon.”

Chris Sheldrick, what3words CEO and Co-founder, said: “India has a rapidly growing economy, but like many other countries, it still suffers from the big three infrastructural challenges – the unbanked, the unconnected and the unaddressed.

“Our partnership with Tata Motors will begin to change this, as together, our impact will expand across humanitarian, travel, e-commerce - and of course automobile industries. With us based in London and Tata Motors having its innovation centre in Coventry, it made it very easy to work together.”

The latest version of what3words will be available in the upcoming products by Tata Motors in future.

Customers can download the what3words application for free via iOS and Android platforms.