Maini Group launches India’s first autonomous buggy

The Maini Group, founded in 1973 by Dr SK Maini, which introduced India’s first mass produced electric car, the Reva (exported as the G-Wiz) that went on to become the world’s best-selling electric car before the advent of the Nissan Leaf, and the producer of the only Indian-made electric buggies, has launched India’s first autonomous buggy. Unveiled at Wings India 2020, the Autonomous Buggy has been conceived, designed and developed completely in India and will be sold in the global market.

A statement from the company says that the Autonomous Buggy is capable of driving with little or no human involvement and is suitable for both domestic and international markets. Some of the key features of the buggy include lane detection, road surface detection, traffic sign detection, lane discipline, emergency stop, pedestrian/obstacle avoidance, and app-based ride-hailing. Maini Group has said that the Autonomous Buggy will be a disruptor in the industry as there are a large number of such vehicles used in locations like airports, IT parks, public gardens, etc.

Plans are on to introduce the autonomous navigation technology in other platforms and products from the Maini Group. Dr SK Maini, Chairman, Maini Group believes that electric mobility and autonomous solutions are the key to the future and expect airports, IT companies, and other large campuses to be the early adopters for the technology.

Maini Group is also credited with introducing India’s first airport Ground Support Equipment (GSE) with Electric Baggage Tugs (EBTs) and in the past two years, more than 100 of these tugs have been put into operation in seven International airports in India. The company also launched the Airport Trolley Tugger (ATT 5) in 2017 for many international airports and is the only Indian company to manufacture this product.

Photographs sourced from Maini Group’s official social media handles.