APPROACH NOTE

by (team name)

Table of Contents

Introduction................................................................................................................................................................. 4

Instructions ................................................................................................................................................................. 4

Executive Summary ................................................................................................................................................... 7

Approach Note- Table of contents ............................................................................................................................. 8

About the Team ........................................................................................................................................................ 12

o

Team Details ............................................................................................................................................... 12

Team Members Bio ..................................................................................................................................... 12

List of Mentors/Sponsors/Consultants/Partners ......................................................................................... 13

Introduction
Congratulations for having made it to the Approach Note Phase of the Driverless Car Challenge. Only
shortlisted applicants will be required to fill in an Approach Note.
The Approach Note is a detailed description of your innovation and will help the jury evaluate your
participation in further rounds. This is the first opportunity for you to show the jury the clarity of your
thought process and wherewithal to stay the course and complete the Driverless Car Challenge.
The submission period for the Approach Note is 14 th April 2014 to 9thJanuary 2015. Please take time
and make the documents clear and comprehensive as you can, and submit it only after you are sure
it is complete in all respect and to your satisfaction.
Note that there are no extra points for early submissions!
A few points that we would urge you to keep in mind are:
1. Ensure that your Approach Note is properly structured and includes all the key elements
required to present your thinking clearly and effectively
2. Ensure that the data and calculations in relevant sections are correct and accurate
3. Ensure that you provide supporting data wherever applicable and remember to state all your
assumptions clearly
4. Ensure that the Approach Note flows logically, reads well and is free of grammatical and
spelling errors
5. Ensure that you read through the set of instructions below carefully before you develop your
Approach Note

Instructions
1. The Approach Note phase will commence on14thApril 2014

2. Please adhere to the template to the extent possible

3. Teams have to submit their Approach Note on / before 23:59:59, 9thJanuary 2015 by sending
the completed document in an email to brand@mahindra.com. Any submission after the deadline
will not be accepted

4. A confirmation email will be sent to the team leader from the mail id brand@mahindra.com.
Teams are requested to write to brand@mahindra.com in case they do not receive a confirmation
mail two working days after submitting

5. The Approach Note has to be submitted as a PDF document

6. For easy identification, teams are required to name their Approach Notes in the following
format: [Team Name_Approach_Note_Driverless_Car_Challenge.Pdf]
7. Please use ARIAL font and maintain a font size of 11 or 12, with a line spacing of 1.5.

8. Update the Table of Contents once you have completed the Approach Note

9. Attachments, including engineering drawings, can be provided as annexures at the end of the
document or embedded in the document. In case teams attach extra documents as separate
files,

please

save

them

using

the

format:

[TeamName_FileName_Approach

Note_Driverless_Car_Challenge.Pdf].

10. In case the teams wish to attach a video showcasing a working model / simulations of their
concept, they can upload the same on YouTube and a link for the same has to be provided in
the Approach Note.

11. Any documents related to IP / any large file (other than the Approach Note) can be submitted
by uploading the same on Sendspace / Wetransfer. However, Mahindra will not be responsible
for loss of documents and/or protection of IP
12. The evaluation period will be 2nd June 2014 to 16thFebruary 2015

13. We will intimate progress into the live presentation phase in an e-mail to the team leader within
45 working days of submission of the Approach Note

14. Teams are encouraged to check with Mahindra if they do not receive an email by the 48th
working day after submission

15. Any changes to your Approach Note, post submission, that need to be incorporated in the
document will have to be e-mailed to brand@mahindra.com. The acceptance of the modified
document is completely at the discretion of Mahindra.

16. Teams are encouraged to submit, as credentials, any research paper(s) authored by them,
participation in other challenges, mentors advising the team and anything else that can add to
the team credentials

17. If the team is officially representing an Institution or Organisation, please attach a letter of
authorization (appropriately signed and sealed by a competent authority) as a separate
document

In case you have questions, please e-mail us at brand@mahindra.com

Executive Summary
(A 1-2 page summary on the key technical, financial and operational aspects of the approach that is covered in this
document)

Approach Note- Table of contents

Given below are 10 objectives and some questions that the teams need to address. The teams are requested to answer
each question under each objective. The teams will be evaluated on the objectives mentioned below.

Objective 1

Description

Customer need definition

Instances in which the customer will use the car

-

Ease of use

Case Scenarios

Please answer the following questions:

1. Who is the user? The owner-driver? A cab driver? A differently abled person? Paint a clear portrait of the user(s)
2. Under what situations will the above user(s) find a driverless car useful? What can the user do with the car?
What can the user do in the car? Is there anything the user can do before and/or post using the car?
3. Why will your user buy your driverless car? What value proposition does the driverless car offer? Where is it
going to be used? Does this solve any daily problems or does this solve one big problem for one set of users?
(What are the use cases where the car will be used? e.g. first/last mile connectivity on fixed routes, self-parking,
virtual mobility pick up/drop off, car for the disabled/blind/ paraplegic)

Objective 2

Description

India Centricity

There are spatial and temporal challenges on Indian

roads what will appear in front of a vehicle, road
conditions that are not predictable, poor adherence to traffic
rules, uncertainties induced by traffic conditions

Please answer the following questions:

1. What kind of customizations and innovations are planned to make the driverless car suitable for Indian
conditions?
2. Are there any limitations/constraints you have chosen to work within (i.e. situations in which it will not work), over
and above those specified by the Challenge rules?
3. What type of road conditions / challenges will the car be able to overcome?

Objective 3

Description

Level of autonomy

What is the degree to which your approach promises to

make the car autonomous?

Please answer these questions

1. What are the functions that will be autonomous? To what extent?
2. Will it able to understand law and order implementation like manual traffic signals, diversions, barriers etc.?
3. Will it have manual override?
4. Will it accept guidance and commands from differently abled users e.g. gestures, voice, touch inputs, etc.?
5. How simple will it be for the user to use the car e.g. does user have to prepare a lot of data externally (e.g.
maps, commands, etc.) to feed into the system or would the vehicle be intelligent enough to serve this purpose
with minimal human input?

Objective 4

Description

Feasibility

Technical, production, integration and implementation

feasibility.

Please answer these questions

1. Is the technology adhering to automotive standards?
2. Are there any obstacles in the proposed solution to mass production?
3. Can the solution work across platforms?
4. Please provide a clear roadmap to commercialization even though the challenge is intended to only showcase a
TRL 7 system. (Good to have, not mandatory)

Commercial aspects must be considered while drawing up a roadmap for product evolution.

Market Readiness how soon can the first systems that have reasonable market applications be
commercialized? What is the roadmap post that for wider market/segments/ use-cases applicability?

Objective5

Description

Reliability and Robustness

Key performance indicators and features to ensure smooth

working of the innovation with a reliable result validation
process

Please answer these questions

1. What features would make the innovation fail safe? What are the cases where it will not work?
2. How is the repeatability (getting the same output with same input) ensured?
3. What is your result validation process? What are the key indicators of the innovation working perfectly?

Objective 6

Description

Innovation

How disruptive and original is the innovation

Please answer these questions

1. Concept innovation- What original innovations are present in your concept?
2. Innovation in technologies- Are you using any novel/original technology in your concept?
3. Are you using existing technologies in an innovative manner to achieve different results?
4. Have you used Innovation towards cost effectiveness, ease-of-manufacturing (Good to have, not mandatory),
system reliability, etc.?

Objective 7

Description

Affordability

How affordable will the solution be for the end users?

Please answer these questions

1. Please specify a Features v/s benefits v/s costs analysis considering the costs at component level, investments
costs and production costs (Good to have, not mandatory)
2. What would be the addressable market(s) from the concept proposed and the scale thereof?

Objective 8

Description

Multi-Functionality

The kind of functionalities that will be built into the car

and/or the ability to add multiple functionalities to the car
with ease.

Please answer these questions

1. Will the car be able to self-park?
2. Will it have a plethora of on board or on fleet applications that are simple to use? What are these applications?
3. Will the car connect to other electronic devices of the user/driver? What benefits will this feature offer?

Objective 9 (Good to have, not mandatory)

Description

Integration with XUV 5OO or e2o.

Details required for a smooth integration with existing

technology

Please answer these questions (Good to have, not mandatory)

1. How can integration with XUV 5OO or e2o be ensured?
2. What information do you need in order to integrate your idea on an XUV 5OO and e2o?
3. How easily can the innovation be adopted across multiple car platforms and what level of platform independence
will it have
4. How do you plan to ensure applicability across multiple vehicle types (e.g. from small to large cars to mini-vans to
mini-buses)

Objective10 (Good to have, not mandatory)

Description

Maintenance

Maintenance details regarding the car and a suitable

service model / system details to address the same

Please answer these questions (Good to have, not mandatory)

1. What kind of maintenance will be required for the car?
2. How would ensure easy availability of spares/service be ensured
3. What would be the service model?

About the Team

(Guiding text for each section is mentioned in RED ITALICS. You can delete them, and this line, from the completed
Approach note that you will submit)

Team Details
Team Name
Team Type (Institution/Organization/Private)
Name of Institution/Organization (If Applicable)

Team Members Bio

No.

Name

Role

Expertise

Highest Education

Current/Relevant
Work Profile

Example

Rahul Mukherjee

Leader

Gears &
Transmissions

Leader

Deputy

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

10

Member

11

Member

12

Member

13

Member

14

Member

15

Member

16

Member

17

Member

18

Member

19

Member

20

Member

PHD Tribology

Technical Analyst
XYZ Corp

List of Mentors/Sponsors/Consultants/Partners
No.
1
2
3
4
5

Name

Nature of Support

Expertise

Remarks, if any