Indian engineers help vehicles navigate skies, roads and oceans

Picture stepping into an

electric vertical take-off and landing vehicle

– an

eVTOL

– that whisks you through the air and gets you to your destination without any hassle. The software to make this tech a reality is being coded, tested, and refined today by engineers in India. These battery-powered aircraft, designed to take off and land vertically like helicopters but operate with the efficiency of aeroplanes, represent perhaps the most ambitious leap in

urban mobility

since the automobile.Essential parts of this aerial revolution are being developed out of

Alten India

. Alten is a French multinational company that specialises in providing everything from engineering and IT services, to consulting, R&D, and digital transformation services to various industries, including automotive, aerospace, energy, and life sciences. Its India ops, which began with just 80 people in 2008, is now 9,000 strong.

“The eVTOL industry or the sustainable flying industry has seen a lot of investments, ups and downs in Europe,” says Balaji Viswanathan, CEO of Alten India. “Some of the big companies which were founded to do eVTOLs have gone bankrupt because there was not enough funding. But the US is doing reasonably well.” Despite these market fluctuations, Viswanathan remains bullish about the technology’s potential. “We are proud to say that we are working with almost all the eVTOL companies,” he notes.

Mobility convergenceAlten India’s work represents a fascinating convergence of automotive and aerospace technologies. “There is a lot of overlap between the automotive industry, the rail and transport industry, and the aviation industry,” Viswanathan observes. “Earlier, everybody used to say if you are from aviation, you are from aviation. But now, the learning between industries to make sure that the best practices are captured drives more efficiency.”From their laboratories in Bengaluru and Aurangabad, Alten’s engineers are tackling some of the most complex challenges in autonomous flight. Their primary focus is on sustainability and navigation systems, and building crash detection units. “In non-human operated eVTOLs, a big challenge is to make sure that data is not compromised if a crash occurs. How do you make sure that the data is stored similar to how black boxes operate in traditional aircraft? We do that work here.”While the eVTOL work grabs the imagination, automotive engineering remains the mainstay for Alten India. “About 45% of our business in India comes from automotive, and around 30% from aerospace and avionics,” says Viswanathan. Industrial manufacturing covers most of the rest – everything from plastic machines and paper machines, to heavy engineering machines and cutting tools.Alten India’s journey in cars mirrors the sector’s software-first turn. “Initially, ADAS was primarily around labelling and annotation – identifying objects and defining what those objects are,” he says. “Now we are defining what to do when you face that object and what you should tell the driver.” Over 15 years, the company has worked with almost all the European OEMs – Renault, BMW, Mercedes, Volkswagen, Volvo – taking best practices from each, building test benches in its labs and delivering to strict standards.The India team’s navigation pedigree shows up in unusual theatres as well. “We are working with the Navy on GPS positioning, object detection, identifying which is dangerous, which is not,” Viswanathan says. “You won’t find so much traffic in the sea, but you still find a lot of objects floating around.” He lists minesweepers, seabed obstacles, even plant matter. “Based on sonic waves, you decide, do you stop, turn, or destroy? Each one needs a different response,” he says.