India Trip

March 12-22 Vigen, Tigran, Levon and myself visited India to participate in CAEV (Connected, Autonomous and Electric Vehicle) Expo and visit a few customers. 

The most of the work was in Bangalore, but for one customer meeting me and Levon took a flight to Chennai in the morning and returned to Bangalore in the evening to catch the flight back home.

First day, after getting badges at Expo for the next day, we got lost on our way to get dinner at Vigen’s favorite restaurant in Bangalore (Chinese one).

CAEV Expo, Bangalore

The CAEV Expo took place in Bangalore on March 13-14. We had a small booth where we put our brochures, 2 X-banners and some Slides showcasing our services and solutions in Automotive.

The main focus of the Expo were:

·       Software Defined Vehicle concept and a lot of Vehicle full software-stack development companies working with Automotive Tier 1s and OEMs – providing AUTOSAR compliant Software solutions.

·       Automotive Cybersecurity with a lot of software companies providing online-diagnostic software solutions that run in AUTOSAR software stacks that monitor Vehicle for potential vulnerabilities for cyber-attacks. These companies also provide Cloud based services and software solution to test for cybersecurity.

·       Telematics – with many companies providing Telematics Control Units (TCUs) for 2-wheelers and 4-wheelers, that allow Cellular V2X connectivity for the Vehicle and GNSS navigation. 

Mostly the focus was around the topics above. However, there were a few test-and-measurement companies showcasing their solutions (Keysight, dSpace, Anritsu, Spirent), but even those mostly present ECU Software Stack validation software products and Telematics Testing equipment (like Base Station Emulators). ADAS and Autonomous Vehicle direction was represented poorly, although there were a few companies providing autonomous platforms for education and warehouse automation purposes. 

Over the two days of Expo we’ve got some good leads that we’ll be following up to generate opportunities for which we’ll need to be sending proposals.

Customer Visits

The week after the expo we visited a few customers in Bangalore and Chennai

1.     MAGNA (Bangalore) – Vigen, Tigran, Levon, Gurgen, Suresh (NI), Bhanu (Reyocto)

2.     Continental (Bangalore) – Vigen, Tigran, Levon, Gurgen, Bhanu (Reyocto)

3.     APTIV (Bangalore) – Vigen, Tigran

4.     Mahindra (Chennai) – Levon, Gurgen, Bhanu (Reyocto), Venkatesh (NI)

Visit to Armenian Church in Chennai

 After Mahindra’s visit Levon and I decided to take our time to visit Armenian Church in Chennai. Chennai is a new name for a city previously called Madras. We knocked the door and an Indian women opened and asked where we are from. When she heard we’re from Armenia – she opened the door and let us in the Garden, where we could see the Church. It was built in 1712.

Then an Indian man came and said that he is the one taking care of the Church and he is always there and lives right in front of it. He had an old dog with him, who was very happy to see us. 

Turned out that the Church doesn’t have permanent bishop and Priest and that a Priest will come once in a while from Mumbai or Kolkata for special occasions and he expected that Armenians will gather in the Church for Easter. He showed us around, even let us go up to the Bell tower. 

Putting some pictures below: