Driving an Uber, he found a way to solve civic issues

In November 2016, when he was in the US, Jayant Ratti decided to become an Uber driver. Not to earn money for a living. But because he had a car, because he loved driving, and he wanted to move around a city and see what problem he could solve with the power of mobility.

After a few weeks behind the wheel, his thoughts began taking shape – why not work on technology that not only can help clean up our cities and public spaces, but also make them safer and more liveable.

Jayant had done BE in electronics & communication from Delhi College of Engineering, and then a MS and PhD from Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta. His PhD involved robotics and AI, and he went on to launch a couple of robotics ventures in the US to provide robotic and drone-based solutions. In 2017, he returned to India, exited the robotics ventures, and launched Nayan Technologies based on his experiences as an Uber driver.

“So many issues we face on a day-to-day basis, which we cry and laugh about – I wanted to solve them. And the idea came up when I actually got on the road,” he says.

The solution was simple, yet powerful. All it requires is for people to download the Nayan app on their phones, and keep the phone, or the in-house dash-cam, on the dashboard when they are commuting to and from work, or they’re picking up people, or delivering food or goods. The app’s AI will detect a host of civic problems, ranging from road damage, potholes and garbage to broken traffic lights, and even traffic enforcement issues (someone jumping a red light, driving on the wrong side, cutting a lane). All the data captured by the AI is then delivered by way of a cloud interface to law enforcement, municipal and safety bodies, and to fleet operators.

“It empowers communities to monitor and report civic and safety concerns to solve municipal problems, to improve their overall quality of life,” Jayant says.

For every problem flagged, users earn nominal points that can be redeemed in cash. “I always wanted to help the common man, those in the lowest income groups of the country. This app enables people on the road driving trucks and buses, and riding bikes to earn some money on top of their normal daily wages,” Jayant says.

Taking the hard road

Jayant filed the intellectual property for the tech in December 2016, but pushed himself to the limit, emotionally and mentally, to ensure that it worked. “You are on your own trying to build a business model which does not exist, and you want to do it well. Initially, times were very tough. You are on the road, picking up people and driving through the night, testing your application. I slept in the car as much as I could, and during the day I was running my (robotics) company on Bluetooth,” he tells us. “I’d come home to my apartment to take a shower, get some breakfast, head to office, and quickly see the team. By lunch you are already tired, so you take a nap, then get back on the road and also run the company.”

After three months of driving the cab and ideating and fine-tuning the tech, when he moved to India, there was another big challenge – that of persuading customers, used to CCTVs, to take a leap of faith in an as yet unproven technology.

Jayant invested around $500,000 of his own money, and raised a further $3 million through venture capital and the Indian government. Over time, he successfully pitched his idea to the police forces in Kochi, Goa and Delhi. He then took the tech to Dubai Police. The tech is today used by municipal bodies in some 17 cities including Ahmedabad, Amritsar, Bareilly, Jhansi, Kanpur and Lucknow. Another 40 are testing it.

Nayan Technologies was among Nasscom’s League of 10 last year. The award recognises deep tech startups creating new products or solutions with unique IP and potential impact