Startup Corner

RydeAssist Technologies

Introducing the founding team RydeAssist was launched by Sharad Bairathi (BTech, NIT and MBA, London Business School), Vidya Sagar (BTech, NIT) and Shruthi BhaƩ (BE, VTU). The three of them – coming from various backgrounds and generaƟ ons form a team and work towards bringing out the best in each other!

The founding team at RydeAssist Technologies (L to R) Vidyasagar, Sharad Bairathi and Shruthi BhaƩ

The Genesis The young group having experience in Head Unit Display and telemaƟ cs soluƟ ons, started to build a complete HUD (Head up display) soluƟ on in-house to cater to needs of larger market. As ideas began to pour in and more brainstorming was done, the founders were convinced that not just the HUD, the concept of complete connected car soluƟ on has got greater market potenƟ al and propensity to expand rapidly. Hence, RydeAssist was spun off from Embitel Technologies with the vision of tapping the unexplored connected car soluƟ on market in India.

Moving forward Launching of RydeAssist Technologies was a well thought decision. It took the founding team close to two years to make the prototype ready for their fi rst product- Rydo, and eventually they started company registraƟ on. Rydo is the Gesture and Voice Controlled Head up Display (HUD) right in driver’s fi eld of view for Connected Vehicles.

RydeAssist’s RYDO RYDO consists of GPS, GSM/GPRS, WIFI, Bluetooth, Quadcore processor and DLP projector. On top of the hardware, Android soŌ ware stack is built by the product team.

The main idea behind the HUD concept is to reduce driver’s distracƟ on towards other acƟ viƟ es thus enabling more focus on driving and hence more safety on road. HUD caters to drivers by combining diff erent screens, be it GPS on mobile, fuel, over speed alert and others on Instrument cluster, calls on mobile, text message, blind spot issue, entertainment etc. onto single screen, in front of driver’s eyes without the need of driver to take their gaze off the road.

Challenges faced When RydeAssist Technologies was launched, the team had set a goal to bring out the fi rst working prototype within 3 months followed by fundraising for the development and launch of full scale product. Product roadmap was carved out for 2 years with a provision of launching low cost variant of HUD aŌ er one year. Talking about the challenges, Shruthi says, “Our iniƟ al plan was to go aŌ er OEMs and Ɵ er1 companies for markeƟ ng Rydo. Breaking into the OEM segment of market or partnering with OEMs is a tougher challenge. Now we have partnered with one of the leading OEM for tesƟ ng our products. Also, we have realised that we have to diversify our business model to consumers as well. Hence, we have started working on low cost variant which will have compeƟ Ɵ ve pricing and aff ordable to all car segments. The present plan is to launch low-cost variant product in mid of 2018 directly to consumers.”

Future plans Being a young and dynamic company (www.rydeassist.com), RydeAssist’s road map includes plans to build eff ecƟ ve products and customised soluƟ ons in Head up Display, vehicle connecƟ vity, ADAS, telemaƟ cs & mobility management. RydeAssist is targeƟ ng to enter and play in the market in two ways. One is approaching OEM and Ɵ er-1 companies to partner with RydeAssist. The second approach is to tap into AŌ ermarket segment with low cost variant for consumers.