Tata Motors employs artificial intelligence in prototyping new cars, revealed Ajay Jain, the head of the India Design Studio for the automaker, during his keynote address at the ‘Powering the Future of Automotive Technology Innovation’ session on the first day of the Invest Kerala Global Summit 2025 in Kochi on Friday. This marks a major shift from employing physical prototyping techniques, which took significant time and effort during the design process.
“With AR and VR, using AI, we are able to visualise in full size, in real-time, permutations and combinations of full-size vehicles in a very immersive way,” said Jain, “This allows us to [take a] leap from what hundred years of physical prototyping of automobiles has been taking place.”
To an intrigued audience, Jain played a short clip of the design studio employing AI to preview and inspect a Tata Harrier. To the untrained eye, it looked almost like the real deal, except that it was all AI-generated and reviewed using AR/VR technology.
“Today, we stand at a great crossroads and an opportunity,” revealed the design head, stating that Tata Motors’ design arm uses AI tech extensively to validate their design ideas.
“Imagine making a full-size truck and then walking around it, and then saying you are unhappy with it… and then, having to remake it,” Jain reasoned. Instead, they can now do the same process digitally, with faster iterations and “design loops”, cutting down on a lot of time, effort, and the costs involved.
“There is a wonderful synergy between the physical reality and the digital world where things can be physically and reviewed digitally or prototyped digitally and reviewed physically,” Jain said.
The design head also revealed that the latest promo of the Tata Safari was AI-generated, playing a clip of it at the venue.
Despite highlighting the importance of AI in the design process, Jain brought the attention of the audience to the human element in design. “Skill is number one,” he said, “what we need is to highlight people and their abilities, talent, and knowledge.” There is no replacement for human skill, he added.
Jain quickly took the audience through the history of Tata Motors through a design lens, underscoring the importance of functionality. “Function is how we interact with things,” he stated.
With the rise of electric mobility, using electrification and other means to increase and create functionality is becoming more relevant, Jain said. Apart from functionality, another important aspect—albeit the harder nut to crack—of the design was how to impact the feelings of consumers, he added.
With exponential jumps in automotive tech in the past 5 years, automakers in India—and across the world—are in a race to deliver the best of design and tech in their latest offering.
Moving away from 100 years of skills honed in making vehicle models and physical prototypes, especially in Europe, to using the latest in technology to cut costs and time, the Indian auto industry has come a long way. However, these auto giants still stress on skills and people, stating that AI and other technology are mere tools and that they do not replace humans.
The Invest Kerala Global Summit 2025, scheduled on February 21 and 22 at the Lulu International Convention Centre in Bolgatty, Kochi, is organised by the Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation (KSIDC) under the aegis of the Department of Industry and Commerce, Government of Kerala. It looks to attract both domestic and international investments across various sectors to the state, in a bid to lift the economic landscape of the region.
Apart from investors and industry stakeholders, various countries have also associated with the two-day summit, including Vietnam, Germany, and Australia setting up specific showcases at the venue.
