Sikka showcases Infosys' indigenous 'driverless' cart

Bengaluru: Infosys CEO Vishal Sikka arrived in style at the company's media briefing in a 'driverless' cart, a vehicle that has been indigenously developed at its Mysore centre.

The homegrown tech giant's efforts in developing the autonomous vehicle, according to Sikka, is aimed at training employees on new emerging technologies like artificial intelligence.

"An autonomous vehicle for me and Pravin (COO) built right in Mysore @Infosys Engg Services! Who says we can't build transformative technologies?" read a tweet by Sikka.

Laced with sensors, these driverless vehicles are capable of sensing its environment and navigating without human input. Advanced control systems help these vehicles identify navigation paths, as well as obstacles and road signage.

"I drove here to this venue in our own indigenously- built autonomous golf cart. This is a test bed that we have built to train thousands of engineers on autonomous driving technology as we renew our existing services on the basis of these dual forces of automation and innovation," Sikka said in the media briefing.

He added that such initiatives demonstrate the company's focus on new areas of services and software. Interestingly, companies like Google and Uber have been experimenting with driverless vehicles for some time now.

Other Infosys employees also shared videos of the driverless golf cart on Twitter. The autonomous vehicle, he said, is a symbol of cutting- edge technology and meant to train other employees on technologies like artificial intelligence.

Sikka said about ten per cent of the company's revenues this quarter came from new services and software, which are high growth areas that Infosys is focussing on.