U.S. Netradyne has provided an artificial intelligence-powered dashboard that extends its driver monitoring technology to taxi-style service, senior Unicorn official said Tuesday.
Durgadutt Nedungungadi, senior vice president of international operations at Netradyne, told Bengaluru’s announcement of expansion plans.
Netradyne was founded in 2015 by former Qualcomm executives Avneesh Agrawal and David Julian. Although the company was founded in San Diego, the United States, all of its major R&D (R&D) jobs and testing as well as offices in Bangalore.
Nedungadi declined to name which ride provider the startup is currently naming, but said it is a “global company.”
“We’ve been saying we’re going to be everywhere,” Nedungadi said. He explained that given how road safety regulations, driver behavior, signage and conditions differ between countries, they entered new markets to reduce the number of false alarms their systems provide.
Focus on technology, AI and fleet safety
Netradyne offers an artificial intelligence-based product called Driver II that monitors drowsiness, texts while driving and sends real-time alerts to refocus on dangerous driver behavior on the road.
The company recently raised $90 million in a Type D round led by Point72 Ventures, with a valuation of $1.34 billion. Other investors in the company include SoftBank, Reliance, M12 (Microsoft’s venture capital arm) and Qualcomm joint ventures.
While the funds raised are used to drive global expansion, technology and research continue to take into account most of the company’s spending this year.
“We need to continue investing in three different technology areas: our AI and machine learning capabilities, improving sensors on cameras, namely device technology, and finally, making it easy for security managers to provide fleet information through the cloud,” Nedungadi said. In fact, nearly 80% of Netradyne’s workers, or more than 850 technologies focused on building the company’s technology.
B2B, driving data focus
While the company does see the consumer segment as a potential market, the focus is still on B2B at the moment. “The demand in the consumer market is very different in terms of technology and support infrastructure,” he said.
Netradyne started in the United States and India. “These two countries offer very different driving conditions, and if your technology can adapt to both ends, you should be able to adapt to most global requirements,” Nedungadi said.
In the United States, the company first focuses on logistics companies in the Northeast to better understand geographical conditions and build their data sets. In fact, the company built the entire AI and ML technology based on the collected data.
While Netradyne first served the U.S. commercial truck market, it has since expanded to hazardous materials and last-mile delivery. In addition, the company also provides solutions for fleet providers working in company and employee transportation. Last year, the company signed a deal with B2B fleet operator Taski Technologies.
“These areas are huge low-distance fruits for us. The penetration levels of these segments are in the medium to low unit numbers in terms of addressable markets. There are a lot of gaps.”
Currently, the startup’s products are operating in several countries around the world, including the United Kingdom, Canada, Mexico, Germany, Australia and New Zealand. However, 85% of its revenue continues to come from the US initially launched by the US, while 5% comes from India.
