Espresso: Toyota's e-Palette returns, L&T's smart city deal

Toyota restarts e-Palette at Paralympic Games

Toyota Motor said it will restart its self-driving e-Palette pods at the Tokyo Paralympic Games with modifications.

e-Palette is a fully autonomous, battery-electric vehicle specifically used for ride-sharing and logistics at the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games. Its operations had been halted after a collision with a visually-impaired person who was about to use a pedestrian-crossing last week, according to a Reuters report.

The Japanese automaker said it will start operations in the village with greater operator control and more safety staff to prevent accidents. Toyota Motor CEO Akio Toyoda had issued an apology through a Youtube video (in Japanese) after the incident.

L&T bags deal with Moradabad Smart City

The construction arm of L&T (Larsen and Toubro) informed stock exchanges on Monday that it has won deals in the range of Rs 1,000 crore to Rs 2,500 crore across businesses in India and abroad.

This includes a deal with Moradabad Smart City, which awarded L&T's Smart World and Communication a project to design, develop, implement, and manage its command-and-control centre CCTV surveillance in Moradabad, Uttar Pradesh.

The scope of work includes an Intelligent Traffic Control System with traffic enforcement, Adaptive Traffic Control System, City Surveillance System with video analytics, Citizen Web Portal, a mobile app and help desk, as well as a Smart Parking Management Solution.

TVS Motor launches ‘Built To Order’ platform

TVS Motor launched a ‘Built To Order’ (BTO) platform, marking its foray into factory customisation and personalisation, the company said in an exchange filing on Monday.

The new business vertical, TVS BTO platform, will allow customers to customise, and personalise their vehicles while making a purchase. This will then be built directly at the factory as per the requirements.

TVS ‘Built To Order’ platform will debut with its flagship motorcycle, TVS Apache RR 310. This platform will be introduced across other product portfolios from the stable of TVS Motor in a phased manner.

Shopee enters e-commerce market in India

Singapore-headquartered ecommerce company Shopee has launched a recruitment campaign for vendors to sell on 'Shopee India'. It is ramping up hiring in the country, according to Youtube videos and job postings, Reuters reported on Monday.

Shopee is a social-first, mobile-centric marketplace where users can browse, shop and sell. It has a presence in Southeast Asia and several Latin American countries.

While Shopee posted a number of job ads in India for positions ranging from seller operations to compliance recently, the e-commerce platform is yet to launch a localised app or website, the Reuters report added.

Clubhouse adds spatial audio to iOS app

Audio-only chat platform Clubhouse has enhanced its application with spatial audio technology to make the chat rooms more life-like. 

Spatial audio technology allows sound to come at the listener from all directions, just like a real-life conversation. The feature has already been enabled for Apple users, and will soon be launched for Android users too, the company said on its blog.

“When you're in the audience, you'll now hear the people around you in 3D, which makes the experience a bit more life-like and human. It's also easier for your brain to track who is talking, thanks to subtle spatial cues,” the company said.

Tech Mahindra buys stake in AustinGiS

IT firm Tech Mahindra has agreed to buy a 13.8 percent stake in 5G services and IoT (Internet of things) as-a-Service provider AustinGiS, the company said in an exchange filing on August 27.

The company’s wholly-owned subsidiary Tech Mahindra (Americas) will pay $1.25 million in cash to AustinGiS for 13.8 percent of its equity shares. Incorporated in 2021, AustinGiS' history of financials is not available. Its revenue is projected to grow to $28 million in calendar year 2021.

The investment helps Tech Mahindra to offer new services in its loT/5G capabilities with an ecosystem of partners specialising in the same, the company said in a stock exchange filing.