Vineet Sawant has spent the last two years navigating the streets of Mumbai on a scooter as a delivery driver.
“Being on the road is always very stressful and especially in cities like Mumbai,” he says.
But when he started out language barriers were an additional problem.
His first language is Marathi and Mr Sawant speaks “very little” English. “I can understand but it’s very difficult to read,” he explains.
That caused problems at his new job.
He said: “At first, it was difficult. Everything was in English, and I can understand some of it, but I’m more comfortable in Marathi. I used to ask other delivery guys to help me figure out what to do.”
His employer, Zepto, promises “India’s Fastest Online Grocery Delivery”. So having drivers struggling with delivery instructions was not ideal.
To smooth this process a year ago, Zepto partnered with Reverie Language Technologies to introduce an AI translation service for its drivers.
Since then its delivery drivers have been able to choose between six languages on the Zepto app.
“I don’t have to guess anymore,” says Mr Sawant.
“Earlier I would take more time to read and sometimes even made mistakes. Now if the customer writes ‘ring bell’, I get that instruction in Marathi. So, I don’t have to ask or check again. It’s all clear.”