Mahindra’s New XUV500 Comes with Innovative Technologies - Android Auto, Emergency Call & Industry-first Connected Apps, & Ecosense

Mahindra’s flagship SUV, XUV500 now has a host of innovative technologies – many of which are an industry first – in the New Age XUV500. The new additions include Android Auto, Connected Apps, Ecosense & Emergency Call and are targeted towards meeting the evolving needs of today’s tech savvy consumer. These new technologies will redefine the in-vehicle experience of the XUV500 by providing connectivity, convenience and entertainment options to the consumer.

The XUV500 has been a pioneer in providing innovative hi tech features and by adding these industry-first features to the list, it has raised the bar once again.

The 25 + “First time in the Country/First Indian OEM technologies” introduced by Mahindra’s electronics team stand testimonial to its passion for customer focused innovation.

The technology features offered by Mahindra have received phenomenal response from the market, which can be clearly seen from higher proportion of sales of top-end variants of the XUV500 and Scorpio.

These features have been developed under stringent supervision in sophisticated labs with an eye for precision.  The world-class infrastructure such as Hardware-in-Loop laboratoryacts as a key contributor for successful introduction of these features / technologies withreduced timeline and enhanced robustness.

Electronics Hardware-in-Loop Laboratory at Mahindra & Mahindra  

Technologies such as Talking Car first launched in 2003, Light-sensing headlamps (2007), Cruise controls (2007), Micro-hybrid (Start/Stop) (2008), Voice command technology (2009), Stating bending headlamp (2011), Touch-screen infotainment & navigation (2011), XUV500 with 6 airbags & pedestrian protection (2011), Bluesense Mobile phone app (2012), Brake energy regeneration (2015), Mahindra MiniSMART vehicle diagnostics App (2016) brought out by us along with other cutting-edge features, have given our products a “Best-in-class” status in their respective segments.

We have also launched customer-delight features such as 6-way power seats, electric sun-roof, logo-projection on the floor from ORVM (outside rear-view mirror), parking lamp (Magic-eye) and tail-lamp with LED light-guide, and reverse parking assist on our products. Continuing this exemplary journey of innovation, Mahindra has now developed “Ecosense”, “Connected Apps”, “E-Call” “Single Touch Lane Change” and integrated “Android Auto” in its New Age XUV500.  These newer in-vehicle technologies will redefine in-car experience of users and revolutionize the mobility space.

Ecosense – A New Driving Habit

Ecosense is a first-of-its-kind technology that enables customers to optimize their driving pattern, in order to reap maximum fuel economy benefit.

Ecosense presents “Ecoscore” which is computed based on the following key parameters:

• Excessive High Speed
• Optimal Gear Selection
• Aggressive Acceleration
• Excessive Idling Duration
• Aggressive Braking
• Clutch Override

The system prompts for an appropriate gear shift, excessive idling and also for clutch override.

Another most exciting feature of Ecosense is that it enables the customer to instantaneously update “Ecoscore” and “Drive Summaries” through Social Media such as Facebook / Twitter / WhatsApp from their XUV500.

Ecosense systematically stores drive summaries on the cloud using smart phone data connection. These summaries can be retrieved by customers on the WithYouHamesha portal.

With Ecosense, fine driving skills of XUV500 can be compared with peers and a status rank is awarded in addition to drive recommendations.

Ecosense does a fantastic job for improving fuel economy, which leads to reduced emissions for a cleaner environment.

Android Auto – Experience a Higher State

Android Auto brings out the best of in-car infotainment technology offering a plethora of premium features like connected services and apps on the XUV500.

Android Auto focuses on safety & minimizes driver distraction by projecting Android phone content on to the vehicle infotainment system. It enhances XUV500 driving experience & enables customer to stay focused on road with simple, intuitive interfaces, integrated steering wheel controls and powerful speech recognition.

XUV500 customers will have in-car access to Google maps with accurate live traffic, Hands-free telephony, Google play music, Internet music, Internet radio, Messenger, Audiobooks & Podcasts.

Google maps provide voice guided turn-by-turn navigation information. Hands-free telephony enables customer to make and receive phone calls, send and receive messages.

Extremely accurate speech recognition enables Auto Android to respond immediately for any information requested by the customer.

Google play music enables the user to stream songs, customize playlist, etc.

Android auto would be releasing the most popular mobile apps to the in-vehicle environment in a customized manner ensuring safety & comfort.

E-Call – The Saving Grace

Mahindra continues to give strong emphasis on the safety of its customers. Pioneering in providing innovative safety solutions, a slew of safety technologies has been offered in XUV500 to handle pre-accident & collision conditions.  In a post-accident scenario, triggering rapid rescue by first responders is critical for saving lives.

In order to relieve customers of the hassle of reaching out for help in panic situations, XUV500 provides the revolutionary E-Call technology. In an unlikely event of a severe accident and airbags being deployed, the XUV500 automatically makes the call to emergency services without the intervention of the vehicle occupants. It simultaneously sends alert notifications via SMS to pre-stored numbers of ambulance, emergency services and Mahindra customer service (WithYouHamesha). The SMS contains vehicle and location details with Google map link.

E-Call technology doesn’t have to be activated each time – it is enabled automatically by default, right from the moment a smartphone is paired with the vehicle. The uniqueness of this technology is that it is extremely user-friendly, and is a frugal innovation as no additional hardware is used.

Connected Apps – Now, Imagine That

XUV500 infotainment package now includes an exclusive “Connected Apps” in addition to other smart phone connectivity technologies. In order to run these apps, the infotainment system will now have the capability to access internet via Wi-Fi hotspots.

Apps in XUV500 ensures nativity and uniqueness by providing India-specific entertainment, streaming music, live cricket updates, flash news, and information on best restaurants, that are available at a click of a button on XUV500.

Mahindra offers the following apps to start with:

• Gaana
• Criclive
• Zomato
• Bookmyshow
• Hashtag (Social media)
• News Center (NDTV, India Today)
• Calendar (Google)
• Foreca (Weather)
• World Clock
• Calculator

In order to ensure distraction-free safe driving and provide enriched experience, XUV500 reads out news, tweets and sports information. In addition, newer apps and updates on existing apps will happen seamlessly over-the-air without the intervention of the customer.

Major Step Towards Women Safety; NXP India Provides Safety Device ‘Safer’ to Its Female Employees

As part of its commitment to ensure security and safety for their women employees, NXP India; a world leader in secure connectivity solutions for embedded applications; today provided a safety wearable device called ‘SAFER’ to female employees. The pendant was handed over to 90 women employees, who usually work late after 7 pm for various critical projects. The aim of this initiative is to ensure women feel safe at work and on their way home.

This is the first phase of the initiative, in the second phase the pendant would be distributed to all employees of the organization.

Sanjay Gupta, Vice President and India Country Manager, NXP India said, ‘’At a time when more and more women spend a considerable time outside their homes, safety becomes a pertinent concern. At NXP, we are focused on ensuring that our female employees have access to all the necessary support that they might need. And with such initiatives, we look forward to help professionals balance personal and professional commitments while leading healthy, safe and purposeful lives. At NXP, we value and promote diversity at workplace and we want our female employees to have ample of opportunities to show case their skills and calibre without being affected about security”.

Embedded with a tracking device, SAFER pendant can be used as a necklace or simply secured to a keychain that is programmed to trigger an alarm and send signals to pre-identified phone numbers in case of an emergency. An SOS alert will be sent to assigned guardians on double tapping the device. Users can also share their live location. An interesting feature is that a guardian doesn’t need to have a smartphone. In that case, a simple text-based address giving the SAFER user’s location is sent to the number. If a guardian does have a smartphone, they can see the location on a map or even track the movements of the SAFER user in real-time after alert is generated. The app also lets you find the nearest hospital and police station, so it makes sense to have in unfamiliar places.

NXP offers its female employees a formal framework for flexible work options such as remote work, flexi-time, and choices that help them balance their personal and professional commitments. The enhancement of the paid maternity leave policy to 26 weeks even before initiation of the changes in the constitutional requirements in India, is one of the examples. Further, while using a company cab, it is mandatory that a male colleague is there in the cab along the female during normal working hour shift and, female employees have to be dropped first. Also, after 7 pm, females can opt for special office cab service where office guards would accompany them in the cabs.  Women safety and security has always been a priority at NXP. From time to time the company conducts workshop specially for women be it on health or personal development.

Click Labs Unveils Analytics and AI Platform for Businesses - Kato

Click Labs, the company behind hyperlocal on-demand startup Jugnoo announced the launch of its latest offering, Kato. It is a powerful Analytics and Artificial Intelligence Platform for businesses which enables users to access business analytics from various sources on a single dashboard.

With its two prime offerings into AI (Artificial Intelligence) and BI (Business Intelligence), Kato provides pre-built plug and play platforms for businesses. AI understands the existing business use case, analyses and comprehends the data based on pre-defined algorithms and makes informed decisions. BI offering includes setting up analytics driven custom dashboards built on a base platform IP to address client specific requirements. It ensures seamless integration with third party software; and helps in forecasting and setting up various business trends.The product assures a turnaround time of 2-3 weeks which makes it one of the fastest in the services market.

Some of the key features of Kato include

1.    Real-time data with AI

2.    Key performance indicators  

3.    In-depth data analysis to give business insights;

These features help in Dynamic Pricing, Route optimization, Spatial Analytics and Predictive Analytics. Additionally, Kato aims to provide a niche offering in the AI and BI software space by creating a single marketplace for various AI modules that address specific use cases, leveraging open source software tools, and changing the consumption model of Analytics.

Speaking on the launch, Samar Singla- CEO, Click Labs said, “Kato is unique

because we are innovating in distribution of technology by integrating AI, and bringing it to all types of businesses so they can make decisions powered by in-depth data analysis.”

Lenovo Unveils Dual Camera Powered Lenovo K8 Plus Pried at Rs 10,999 on Flipkart

Lenovo India has added two new members to its K series of devices, Lenovo K8 plus and Lenovo K8. In best K series tradition, they offer a premium experience to users at a pocket friendly price. Both come with stylish and strong frames, a perfect blend of predominantly glass and metal that will stand out in the crowd and will also fit into most palms easily. The phones come with Android 7.1.1 (Nougat) out of the box, with assured updates to Android Oreo, as well as high-end multimedia features like Dolby Atmos and Lenovo’s TheaterMax technology.

 “Lenovo’s K series has always been known for delivering powerful performance and cutting edge multimedia experience to consumers at very affordable prices, which is why it has an installed base of more than 8 million users in the country,” said  Sudhin Mathur, Country Head – Lenovo MBG India. “The Lenovo K8 Plus continues this legacy, and comes not only with 4000 mAh battery and Rapid charger in its price segment, but also comprises of 13MP + 5MP dual camera for delivering best-in-class photography experience, along with Dolby Atmos sound and TheaterMax technology. Lenovo K8 plus continues our journey with stock Android, empowering the user by giving them the choice to customise their Android experience. ”

Lenovo K8 Plus: dual focus, pure power

The Lenovo K8 Plus takes performance to another level. It comes with a 13.2cm (5.2), Full High definition (1920 x 1080p) display with Corning Gorilla Glass protection. The device is powered by a true octa core processor clocked at 2.6 GHz, with 3GB RAM and 32GB storage, expandable to 128GB using a microSD card via a dedicated slot.

One of the highlights of the device is its dual camera set-up comprising a 13.0-megapixel and a 5.0-megapixel sensor, which allow users to take their photography game up a notch, by letting them tweak focus and bokeh levels in their pictures, and by adjusting aperture as per their requirements all the way from f/0.8 to f/5.6. The cameras are accompanied with a dual LED flash for better low light photography experience. Lenovo has added a special depth editor and depth-enabled mode to the photography app and gallery to let users do more with their photographs. There is more to photography on the phone than the dual cameras – it also comes with an 8.0-megapixel selfie camera, which not only offers a beauty mode and a LED flash, but also a professional mode which allows users to tweak ISO and white balance and other factors even while snapping selfies. Ensuring

everything is kept private is a fingerprint sensor right on the back on the phone.

The phone comes with support for Dolby Atmos, ensuring you pick up all the notes the way they are supposed to be heard. There is even a customisable music key that gives users direct access to their music. And while the Full HD IPS display ensures a great viewing experience, users can take it to an even bigger screen experience by adding VR glasses and switching to TheaterMax Mode on the phone. To run all this, there will always be plenty of battery life – the 4000 mAh battery on the Lenovo K8 Plus is rated for up to 2 days of use (up to 26 hours of 4G talk time or approximately 20 hours of videos or 100 hours of music, and a massive 400 hours of standby time).  And phone also comes with a Rapid Charger that gives you hours of power in minutes.

The cherry on the cake? Stock Android. The phone runs Android 7.1.1 out of the box for a smooth, pure, secure Android experience, and will be updated to Android Oreo in the coming days.

Lenovo K8: Outstanding battery at a budget

Lenovo K8 is for consumers who are looking for a chic device with ultimate performance at a compelling price point. With a metallic body, the phone sports a 5.2 inch HD display and is powered by a 2.3 GHz Octa core processor with 3GB RAM and 32GB of storage, which can be expanded by 128GB using a microSD card.

The most outstanding hardware feature of the Lenovo K8 is its camera set-up, which comprises of a 13.0-megapixel rear camera with PDAF and LED flash, and a 8 Megapixel selfie camera with its own flash for photography. Offering Multimedia as another USP, Lenovo K8 comes with Dolby Atmos and TheaterMax technology, ensuring users get both, big picture and big sound. Consumers can enjoy watching content for a long time as the K8 comes with a large 4000 mAh battery, with 32 hours of 4G talk time and a massive 456 hours of standby time. A fingerprint scanner on the back ensures security of the content inside the phone.

Pricing and availability

Lenovo K8 Plus will be available for Rs 10,999 from 12 noon, September 7, 2017 onwards exclusively on Flipkart. Lenovo K8 will be available at all leading mobile stores across the country soon.

Athleisure Brand Hustle Now Available on Flipkart; Aims to Become Rs 100 Crore Firm by 2020

Hustle; the fashion athleisure apparel brand got launched exclusively on Flipkart, one of India’s largest e-retail store.

Talking about the association, Vishal Patel, founder Tribesman Graphics Pvt Ltd., shared “We are super excited about this new association with Flipkart for our Hustle brand of products. I am sure we will get good response for our range considering Flipkart being one of the largest e-retailers today. The brand is a youth brand and we are positive it will connect very well to Flipkart's young target audience.”

“Earlier on, for our other products of SayItLoud, we were the number one chosen brand on Flipkart in October 2016 and May 2017 during their flagship sale events Big Billion days and Big 10 summer sale respectively,” added Vishal.

Flipkart’ s company spokesperson from Men's Clothing Fashion Team said "At Flipkart Fashion, our mantra is to bring fresh, unique and trendy products to all our customers at the best prices, making us the ultimate shopping destination for millions of style savvy Indians. Keeping with the category's growth momentum, we continue to have a strong focus on strengthening our men’s fashion portfolio.

Tribesman Graphics has been one of our top partners for men's clothing business exhibiting a phenomenal growth rate annually. We are certain that Hustle will find appeal among our large and growing shopper base of fashion and fitness conscious men.”                                      

Sharing more on the company’s journey so far, Vishal said “we launched our own range of graphic tee shirts under the brand SayItLoud in 2013. From there on, we have evolved into a casual fashion brand for today's social media/digital youth.”

“Fitness Fashion Wear is the new in thing today among health and fitness conscious people. Our new collection brings the latest designs enabling maximum comfort and flexibility for all forms of exercising. Our objective is to make our collection reach customers far and wide and e-commerce platform such as Flipkart was our best choice.”

Sharing on the financial growth of the company, Vishal said “while most companies struggle to make profit in the ecommerce and fashion space, we have been lucky to make profits since our inception. Our last year's net profit after tax was around 3.5%. We are one of the fastest growing fashion brand growing at a rate of 300% YOY since last 3 financial years. The company has come this far without any external funding but going forward we are open to funding and are targeting to  become a 100 crore company by 2019-20.”

The company has a strong logistic team and process in place having delivered over 7 lac tee shirts, with more than 4.5 lac delivered in the last one year alone. Flipkart's multiple channels of fulfillment have made possible to be present in all zones of the country in a very cost effective way.

The company is also the official licensee of Disney, Marvel, Star Wars and Justice League. The team conceptualized athleisure brand Hustle in 2016 and signed up Rannvijay Singh Singha and SquadRann as brand ambassadors in 2017.  It has also secured licenses of the popular series MTV Roadies in August 2017.

Talking about the advertising and marketing plans, Vishal shared “the launch campaign has been conceptualized and executed by Vitamn Private Ltd., a new age integrated communication company based out of Bangalore and Ahmedabad. We hope to roll out the campaign soon across various media platforms.”

Indus Towers Collaborates with IndianOil to Expand Mobile Tower Network Across India

Indus Towers, India’s largest telecom infrastructure company, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL), an integrated energy major for setting up mobile tower network across all 26,000 outlets pan-India. This is in line with its vision of ‘Putting India First’ and committed towards building a robust infrastructure for NextGen digital services network; thus, providing uninterrupted connectivity to citizens.

Indus Towers’ unique proposition of building robust infrastructure at various IOCL retail outlets will enable a greater push towards the government’s Digital India mission and move towards a digital cashless economy. Given the strong presence of IOCL, in both rural and urban India, will further help Indus Towers’ serve its customer requirements faster. 

Commenting on this partnership, Tejinder Kalra, COO, Indus Towers said, “We are very pleased to join hands with IOCL as we strongly believe this partnership will help in setting up Mobile Towers at critical locations and creating of a robust and efficient NextGen digital services network, contributing towards Digital India.”

The collaboration is a unique tower site acquisition process for the company and will boost network connectivity at all retails outlets with high traffic and footfall, enabling faster digital transactions for payments for services like fuel, transactions at convenience store etc. The first of its kind partnership will also provide capex efficiency significantly by enabling a platform which will support to host multiple technologies.

Rajiv Sharma, Chief General Manager, IOCL said, “This MoU with Indus Towers will improve the network connectivity, boost Digital economy and cashless transactions.

Indus Towers will be deploying its NextGen tower designs including camouflaged palm trees, ground-based mast, roof-top tower and poles across IOCL retail outlets unifying world class technology and innovation, location aesthetics and environmental considerations. IOCL has approx. 26,000 outlets across the country.

Five FinTech Shortlisted Over 250 Startups for PayPal Incubator Program

PayPal, the global leader in online payments, today announced a shortlist of five new Financial Technology (FinTech) startups –Finbox, Neoeyed, Paymatrix, Scalend and Tybo as new entrants into its PayPal Incubator in Chennai. The announcement was made after the final round of pitching during the 5th Incubation Challenge, where 10 shortlisted startups from 250 startups presented to an esteemed panel of judges including Guru Bhat, GM Technology & Head of Engineering – PayPal, Anupam Pahuja, MD – PayPal India and Rama Bethmangalkar, Venture Capitalist, formerly with Ventureast.

As a part of PayPal’s vision to transform and democratize financial services, the Incubator helps elevate and drive innovation across the FinTech industry with a focus on startups in financial technology as well as adjacencies like loyalty, machine learning, big data and logistics among others.  

“In its 5th year, the PayPal Incubator has received an overwhelming response with over 250 applications from early stage FinTech startups – a 150% growth from last year, reflecting both the need for an incubation program, as well as the FinTech industry’s potential. Our program is designed to help our newly incubated startups script their own success stories by facilitating access to PayPal’s expertise in cutting-edge technology and by enabling them to leverage PayPal’s market leadership around the world” said Guru Bhat, GM Technology & Head of Engineering – PayPal.

Launched in 2013 in partnership with The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE), the incubator provides a conducive environment for early-stage startups to grow and evolve at PayPal’s Technology Center in Chennai. The program offers startups technology counsel and mentorship, infrastructure support and networking opportunities with both investors and customers. In addition to these, PayPal will also be picking up an undisclosed stake in each of the selected startups this year.