India’s aspirations in advanced aviation received a major global endorsement this week as Chennai-based startup ePlane was featured by NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang during his keynote at COMPUTEX Taipei, placing the company at the intersection of artificial intelligence, aerospace and next-generation mobility.
The recognition comes as NVIDIA sharpens its focus on “Physical AI”—the convergence of AI, robotics, simulation and autonomous systems that can operate in the real world. While much of the AI revolution has been driven by software, NVIDIA is increasingly betting on intelligent machines powered by digital twins, edge computing and advanced simulation technologies.
Among the companies showcased as part of that vision was ePlane, an Indian electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft developer that is using NVIDIA’s AI and simulation ecosystem to accelerate aircraft certification.
The partnership carries significant global weight. ePlane says it is now only the third eVTOL company worldwide—and the only one in Asia—to receive NVIDIA’s support for its certification journey, a process widely regarded as one of the most complex and capital-intensive challenges in aviation.
More importantly, the collaboration extends far beyond a technology showcase.
ePlane was the first eVTOL company globally to publicly commit to NVIDIA hardware within its onboard avionics architecture and is now seeking certification with that hardware integrated into the aircraft itself. The initiative represents a deep hardware-software co-development programme aimed at meeting stringent aviation-grade safety and certification standards.
“Being on Jensen’s stage is not a moment we take lightly,” said Prof. Satya Chakraavarthy, Founder and CEO of ePlane. “It signals that India is not a follower in this technology cycle. We are co-developing safety-critical systems at standards required for certified flight.”
At the heart of the partnership is NVIDIA Omniverse, which allows ePlane to create physics-based digital twins capable of simulating thousands of flight conditions, failure scenarios and edge cases. The simulation data generated through these virtual environments can then be used as part of the company’s certification pathway with India’s aviation regulator.
Industry observers say such capabilities have traditionally been concentrated among a handful of global aerospace giants, making their development within India particularly significant.
The company is currently in the Ground Test Vehicle phase of its first full-scale aircraft and is simultaneously pursuing a Series C funding round.
As global aerospace increasingly converges with AI, ePlane’s appearance on NVIDIA’s biggest technology stage signals that India’s ambitions in advanced aviation are beginning to attract serious international attention.