The ePlane Company, a Bengaluru-based developer of electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft, has announced a strategic collaboration with Nvidia to build India’s first electric air taxi, the e200x.
Notably, the partnership does not involve any financial investment and instead focuses entirely on technical collaboration and knowledge exchange. Through this alliance, ePlane aims to accelerate the development, validation, and certification of its next-generation aircraft.
Under the agreement, ePlane will use Nvidia Omniverse libraries to create a high-fidelity digital twin of the e200x aircraft. This virtual replica will allow the company to validate flight physics, autonomy algorithms, sensor fusion, and complex mission scenarios that remain difficult, expensive, and risky to test in real-world conditions.
In addition, the company will deploy Nvidia’s IGX platform as the onboard computing system to host mission-critical aviation applications. As a result, The ePlane Company will significantly enhance its real-time computing and autonomy capabilities.
Because physical testing under extreme weather, sensor failures, or collision scenarios carries high costs and safety risks, the digital twin will enable the aircraft to fly millions of kilometres virtually. Consequently, the company can train and stress-test its algorithms across complex real-world scenarios long before the aircraft undertakes actual flight operations.
Commenting on the collaboration, Satya Chakravarthy, Founder and Chief Technology Officer of The ePlane Company, said the partnership strengthens the startup’s aerospace ambitions. “We are not just building an aircraft; instead, we are building an ecosystem,” he said. “By validating our flight operations suite in Nvidia Omniverse, we can push the aircraft to its limits thousands of times in simulation so that we never have to do so in reality.”
Providing an update to Business Standard, Bakthakolahalan Shyamsundar, Principal Engineer – Avionics Systems and Autonomy, confirmed that the first prototype is already complete. He added that the company plans to begin ground testing within the next few months.
“We will build two additional prototypes and then move into the certification phase with the DGCA,” he said. “We already have DGCA members working closely with us in Chennai.”
Incubated at IIT Madras, the startup aims to address urban mobility challenges in densely populated cities. Once testing and regulatory approvals conclude, ePlane plans to launch air taxi operations in major metros, including Bengaluru, Mumbai, and Chennai.
Separately, Nvidia has also announced a collaboration with AI Grants India, an AI-focused non-profit organisation, under the NVIDIA Inception programme. Through this initiative, the partners aim to support up to 500 early-stage AI startups in India over the next 12 months by providing access to advanced AI tools, models, and technical training to accelerate product development.
