India won’t permit driverless cars, says Minister Nitin Gadkari
Nitin Gadkari, India’s Minister for Road Transport and Highways, said he will not permit driverless cars in the country, adding that India has a shortfall of 25 lakh drivers.
India’s Minister for Road Transport and Highways, Nitin Gadkari, said that he will not permit driverless cars in the country. Speaking at a recent press conference, he added that India currently has a shortfall of 25 lakh drivers.
Autonomous cars are vehicles that can sense their surrounding environment and operate without human involvement. An autonomous car, in theory, can go anywhere a traditional car goes, and do everything that an experienced human driver does.
These cars can drive without regular human inputs with the help of sensors, actuators, complex algorithms, and machine learning (ML).
Gadkari said, “I am there, I shall not allow driverless cars in India. I was asked whether I oppose new technology. I said not at all.”
The minister added that we have nearly 40 lakh drivers. However, there are still vacancies for about 25 lakh drivers. This is not the first time Gadkari has opposed current trends. Two years ago, he also said that the government will not allow cab aggregators.
He said, “Cab aggregators like Ola and Uber are making money by using our driving skills. If cab aggregators think they can make more money by introducing technology like driverless cars and render people unemployed, the government is not going to allow it.”
As per a recent report by KPMG, India ranks 20 in a list of countries that are most ready to support driverless cars, based on the government support, infrastructure, technology, and innovation, etc.
With the present socio-economic benefits of autonomous vehicles and a strong entrepreneurial ecosystem, India could become an important autonomous vehicle market in the long-term. But at present, on technology and innovation, it scores minimally for lack of patents and investments and low usage of electric cars.
Countries like the US, the UK, France, the Netherlands and Germany have accepted and allowed testing of autonomous cars. However, only India and China have placed bans on autonomous cars.
(Edited by Saheli Sen Gupta)
