Tata Motors partners with what3words
- December 6, 2019
- Posted by: Simon Wait
- Category: Industry News
Automotive manufacturer is bringing a new high-tech address navigation system to India – thanks to pioneering work by its UK research centre.
Tata Motors, India’s largest automobile manufacturer, has announced a partnership with UK innovative location technology company, what3words.
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 meters of the destination.
This technology is exceptionally beneficial in India where addresses are non-standard and complex network of roads make it difficult for last-mile navigation.
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.
Mayank Pareek, president – Passenger Vehicle Business Unit (PVBU), Tata Motors said: “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.”
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.”
