New Delhi: Tata Motors and Mahindra & Mahindra are deepening their deployment of artificial intelligence across their automotive operations, drawing on group technology arms and global partners as the rivals jockey for the number two spot in India’s passenger vehicle market.
Tata Motors PV used AI tools to scan over 1.6 billion social media posts, videos and online conversations, tracking how its products and brand are perceived, the company said in its annual report this week. The automaker is leaning on group firms Tata Consultancy Services and Tata Elxsi, as well as Jaguar Land Rover’s partnership with Nvidia, for next-generation driver-assistance systems.
Mahindra’s automotive business expects its AI strategy to generate ₹4,000 crore (about $480 million) in additional revenue this financial year, backed by Mahindra.AI, an internal unit the group set up in 2024. Group chief executive officer Anish Shah told analysts on a 5 May earnings call that AI-driven customer conversations for the new XUV 7XO drove 17,000 test rides in January, calling it ‘pure incremental revenue’.
“Our AI capabilities have been developed and deployed by our teams internally. Our leaders across the business can deploy AI themselves to solve challenges in their processes—whether it’s in our paint shop, our finance operations, or customer engagement. We’ve built a framework around deploy, transformation, and invent, with accelerators around governance, partnerships, and our Mahindra. AI Academy to get these things done. It’s our teams driving this, and they’re positioned to continue accelerating growth,” Shah told Mint.
The moves reflect an industry shift toward software-intensive vehicles, with automakers using AI beyond driver-assistance and autonomous features to reshape manufacturing, sales and customer service, according to Anurag Singh, advisor at Primus Partners.
In the financial year 2026, Tata Motors PV received total services worth ₹3,973 crore from TCS, similar to the year-ago period, while the auto firm received ₹927 crore in services from Tata Elxsi, with year-ago numbers unavailable.
“Your Company will continue to embed digital technologies and AI across the value chain, build strong advanced analytics and leverage connected technologies to deliver personalized and proactive customer engagement,” Natarajan Chandrasekaran, Tata Group chairperson, who heads the board of Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles, said in his annual letter to shareholders.
IT services, and consultancy firm helps companies manage software, cloud, data and AI solutions, while engineering and research and development firm Tata Elxsi helps design software and technologies, mainly for sectors such as automobiles, healthcare and other industries.
With the company ramping up its launches in the financial year 2026, including Tata Sierra, the Tata Punch EV facelift, and Tata Harrier EV, it deployed an in-house network of AI agents to analyse over 1.6 billion data points across posts, videos, and online conversations.
“This converted unfiltered digital behaviour into structured insights on product performance, service experience, and competitive perception,” the company noted in its annual report.
Moreover, Tata Motors also established a new digital innovation and learning lab at its Thane corporate office, the Phygital.ai Lab, which is expected to further its work in artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, IoT, and customer experience.
For its British luxury brand, Jaguar Land Rover, the company has introduced a new virtual technician assistant across 36 countries to help retailer technicians resolve common service queries.
“Whilst maintaining a human in the loop, JLR is also starting to use AI agents in key business processes like Retailer Warranty Claims to provide better customer experience and efficient verification,” the company said in its annual report.
The developments come as Tata chair Chandrasekaran continues to stress that group companies are increasingly working together to build a comprehensive AI stack which works across industries.
“At the Tata Group, we are adopting AI across the stack—from silicon to systems to AI-ready data centres to applications and AI agents,” Chandrasekaran said during his address at the February 2026 AI summit in New Delhi.
“TCS and Tata Communications together, we are building an AI operating system for industries. What we will do is to build agentic industry solutions for every industry,” Chandrasekaran added.
Along the lines of the Tata Group, the Mumbai-based Mahindra Group has also committed to deepening the use of artificial intelligence across its automotive business as its in-house-developed solutions mature.
The auto arm relies on technologies developed by , an internal AI unit set up by the conglomerate in 2024 to develop AI solutions. This unit receives operational support from the group’s IT services firm, Tech Mahindra.
The unit has developed AI-enabled platforms to assist Mahindra and Mahindra’s automobile manufacturing operations, including a paint defect detection system for vehicles, GenAi TekAssist for automotive repair operations, and the mGenAI platform for employees.
“A foundation is essential, and we spent a lot of time in many of our businesses creating that foundation from a system standpoint, a data standpoint that’s required for AI,” Mahindra Group CEO Anish Shah told analysts and investors during the company’s earnings call on 5 May.
Shah noted that the company is focusing on small projects to improve day-to-day operations within companies and on large projects to integrate AI into manufacturing and sales operations.
According to experts tracking the sector, the AI programmes for these auto firms, part of the , are part of the broader role of software in vehicle development.
Singh of Primus Partners said the auto industry’s use of AI now extends well past the car itself, touching everything from product design and manufacturing to sales, customer service and finance. “Both Tata Motors and Mahindra & Mahindra have been proactive in adopting AI technologies and have established strong programmes and initiatives to drive innovation and business transformation through AI,” he added.
“The investments from the Indian carmakers have started coming in this direction where they look to use AI for getting insights for their products and how they are being perceived in the market,” said Amit Kaushik, founder at MobidxAi, an auto analytics and intelligence firm.
