Chennai, May 22 -- On an October evening in 2016, a professor from IIT Madras came across a talk by Tony Seba, a Silicon Valley entrepreneur.

In the video, Seba showed two remarkable pictures. The first one was from 1900-an Easter Parade in New York City's Fifth Avenue. In the middle of the street, crowded with horse-drawn carriages, was a car. One could barely see it. He next showed a picture from the same parade 13 years later. "Where is the horse?" Seba asked. Fifth Avenue, now crowded with cars, just had one horse carriage.

Seba went on to make a few predictions. All cars will become electrified; by 2020, the cost of an electric car will be about the same as that of an internal combustion engine (ICE)-powered car; by 2030, everybody...