ET Bureau BANGALORE: During Mysore Dasara, or Navaratri, the state festival of Karnataka, earlier this month traffic police in Mysore have been zipping around busy localities on a new standup personal mobility vehicle to manage traffic.
The Irrway — an electric smart three-wheeler vehicle developed by Bangalore-based cleantech start-up Greendzine Technologies — is convenient in parking issues and traffic management, said B Dayanand, additional commissioner of police (ACP), traffic, in Bangalore, afafter police tested the new vehicle. "We hope to experiment further," he said.
Irrway, which can cover 25 km at a cost of just Rs 4 and carry up to 100 kg, is the latest example of Indian police tying up with startups to snap up innovative technologies useful for traffic, crime or rescue departments, from drones to data analytics.
Indian paramilitary forces adopted unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), or drones, as part of defence operations in July 2012, following a demonstration by a start-up founded by some IIT Bombay graduates to the National Security Guard (NSG), Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), Border Security Force (BSF), Delhi Police, Maharashtra Police and the Uttar Pradesh Special Task Force.
That is how the firm, idea-Forge, made Uttar Pradesh Special Task Forces its first client. "Drones can be deployed in the most dangerous and rugged circumstances and are made just for the forces," said Ankit Mehta, cofounder and CEO of the Navi Mumbai-based firm, whose drones were used in rescue and search operations in the recent Beas River tragedy where 24 B Tech students were drowned, the Saharanpur riots, the Pune landslide and for crowd surveillance at the Jagannath Rath Yatra in Ahmedabad last year.
Mehta and his team collaborated with the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) to develop the Netra UAV and currently sell upgraded versions of the drone to police clients.Another start-up looking at police as its key clients is Delhi-based data analytics firm SocialCops, which is in talks with Bangalore and Gurgaon traffic police.
The firm performs analytics on crowd-sourced data obtained from NGOs, citizens and municipal bodies, to suggest, for example, the safest route for women to reach their home or the best route for police to patrol.
The Irrway — an electric smart three-wheeler vehicle developed by Bangalore-based cleantech start-up Greendzine Technologies — is convenient in parking issues and traffic management, said B Dayanand, additional commissioner of police (ACP), traffic, in Bangalore, afafter police tested the new vehicle. "We hope to experiment further," he said.
Irrway, which can cover 25 km at a cost of just Rs 4 and carry up to 100 kg, is the latest example of Indian police tying up with startups to snap up innovative technologies useful for traffic, crime or rescue departments, from drones to data analytics.
Indian paramilitary forces adopted unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), or drones, as part of defence operations in July 2012, following a demonstration by a start-up founded by some IIT Bombay graduates to the National Security Guard (NSG), Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), Border Security Force (BSF), Delhi Police, Maharashtra Police and the Uttar Pradesh Special Task Force.
That is how the firm, idea-Forge, made Uttar Pradesh Special Task Forces its first client. "Drones can be deployed in the most dangerous and rugged circumstances and are made just for the forces," said Ankit Mehta, cofounder and CEO of the Navi Mumbai-based firm, whose drones were used in rescue and search operations in the recent Beas River tragedy where 24 B Tech students were drowned, the Saharanpur riots, the Pune landslide and for crowd surveillance at the Jagannath Rath Yatra in Ahmedabad last year.
Mehta and his team collaborated with the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) to develop the Netra UAV and currently sell upgraded versions of the drone to police clients.Another start-up looking at police as its key clients is Delhi-based data analytics firm SocialCops, which is in talks with Bangalore and Gurgaon traffic police.
The firm performs analytics on crowd-sourced data obtained from NGOs, citizens and municipal bodies, to suggest, for example, the safest route for women to reach their home or the best route for police to patrol.
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