With an objective to promote innovation in the mobility space, Maruti Suzuki India Ltd (MSIL) has shortlisted five new start-ups as part of the third cohort of the Mobility & Automobile Innovation Lab (MAIL) programme.

With the addition of these five start-ups — Clean Slate, Peer Robotics, Vicara, Hyper Reality and URJA — Maruti Suzuki is now engaged with 14 start-ups under the MAIL programme in the last 18 months.

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“The auto industry is extremely dynamic and faces new challenges frequently. The lookout for new technological aids to assist the industry and continue working efficiently is an ever-evolving task. We are excited to partner with the shortlisted start-ups and be a part of their growth story. We wish them the very best and hope this exposure gives them scalability,” said Kenichi Ayukawa, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, MSIL.

MAIL focusses on offering the start-ups a platform where they can translate their ideas into business solutions. Besides, they get an opportunity to get the ideas validated and approved by Maruti Suzuki’s domain experts, he said.

Clean Slate technologies, a start-up from Bengaluru, stood as the winner of the programme, followed by Peer Robotics from Gurugram as first runner up and Vicara from Bengaluru as second runner up.

They will now engage with Maruti Suzuki for paid projects and also will be entitled for other benefits associated with the programme.

Commenced with an aim to nurture innovation in the automobile and mobility sector, Maruti Suzuki had launched the MAIL initiative in partnership with GHV Accelerator in January 2019.

The top three start-ups will also get an opportunity to undertake a paid proof-of-concept with Maruti Suzuki for actual business use of their technologies.