Chasing “Mobility Dreams”

In India today, as with in other parts of the globe, we have countless number of women top managerial cadre in the traffic & transport sector. They have been contributing in developing new products and services and have changed the traffic industry in more than one way. This special feature in this issue of Trafficinfratech goes out to all the women in the traffic and transport industry who are solving problems, thinking out of the box, and working towards the expansion of their companies.

 

Take a minute to imagine a truck driver. You would most likely envision a man in a massive 14-wheeler truck, cruising down the highway onto his next delivery. You would never picture a woman in that role.

Or even when you think of entrepreneurs within the intelligent traffic management systems (ITMS) domain, you would probably imagine a man in a meeting room holding discussions with other male colleagues on new ways of responding to crashes, controlling traffic lights, creating diversions to keep traffic moving, or on providing innovative services related to different modes of transport and traffic management.

But, the era of open-minded societal norms is upon us, and there are the likes of Yogita Raghuvanshi, India’s first woman truck driver, who is happy driving in a man’s world. The qualified lawyer preferred the rough life on the highways to earn a living and support her family.

And then there are women entrepreneurs like Pooja Maheshwari, Founder & CEO, Smarg Technologies, a serial tech entrepreneur and an IIT Bombay Alumna, who has turned her tech background and innovations into successful businesses; Neetu Aman Kishore, Managing Director of Vaaan Infra Ltd; and Saraswathi Gangadhara, MD of the World Data Traffic Tech Pvt Ltd (WDTT), a traffic survey company.

Diversity focussed

For Maheshwari, with 30+ global recognitions, and over two decades of industry experience, diversity, ethical artificial intelligence (AI) and sustainability, are critical. Needless to say, at Smarg, 50% employees are women apart from having a woman as the main stakeholder.

Being part of the mobility segment, Maheshwari says, “Traffic and Parking are an inherent part of our world and daily life. There is no one who is untouched by it. Security, safety, hygiene and organized operations are key attributes that define the well being of any family, city, nation and world as a whole. Today’s women leaders with the right combination of education, technology and inherent attributes of caring for and spreading well being around
are poised to redefine and rationalize the planning, measurement and implementation of traffic use cases.”

It has been an enriching and empowering journey with Smarg, says Maheshwari. “We have a niche product for Retail premises that delivers deep and insightful customer and vehicle analytics and also integrates with CRM and loyalty program to bring about greater visibility and informed actions for operations, marketing & sales.“

Her company, Smarg offers a comprehensive on-street and off-street smart parking solution with AI-driven parking availability and management through vision analytics including ANPR support.

 

“It supports cashless payments, carbon savings promotion through reduction in CO₂ emissions and delivers an awesome user experience even during peak times by giving access to the correct point in time information and endpoint applications for all key stakeholders. Smarg dashboards, reporting and data analytics are highly appreciated by its clients,” says Maheshwari.

Smarg has also extended its Smarg Parking product to further support the EV ecosystem. Users can search for available EV charging options in the parking, book them and pay cashless. It provides comprehensive analytics for EV charging and battery swapping infrastructure utilization and performance. Smarg has a ready Smart Parking with EV Support platform and works in collaboration with other complementary product OEMs and System Integrators in private and public sectors.

“With AI and vision analytics in demand like never before, the onset of Industry 4.0, smart cities focus and sustainability agenda in global focus, our team has the right push and momentum to embark the journey ahead. Our esteemed client success stories have helped us to build trust, scale up and recognition in the market.”