Among the ground breaking technologies introduced in the global automotive industry over the past few years, autonomous driving tech remains the most aspirational and intriguing features. In fact, auto brands like Tesla are close to cracking the code for fully autonomous vehicles allowing complete driverless cars.
However, the Indian government doesn’t hold favourable opinions regarding driverless cars and Nitin Gadkari, Union Minister for Road Transport & Highways, (MoRTH) was of the same opinion.
No driverless cars in India
Speaking on the sidelines of Zero Mile Samvad hosted by IIM Nagpur, Gadkari said, “I will never allow driverless cars to come into India because it will take away the jobs of several drivers and I will not let that happen.” Gadkari estimates that if driverless cars are introduced in the country, around 70-80 lakh people will lose their jobs. He went on to say that autonomous driverless cars are best suited for countries with small populations.
This isn’t the first time Gadkari has voiced his opinions on autonomous driverless vehicles. Back in July 2017, the Union Minister had posted on his Twitter handle that the government will never allow driverless cars to come to India.
Highlighting road safety concerns, Gadkari outlined the need for better safety equipment in cars including six airbags as standard. The government is also trying to curb road accidents by reducing black spots on roads, and increasing fines through the Electric Motors Act.
Tesla’s entry to India
On being asked about Tesla’s entry to India, Gadkari made his thoughts crystal clear that the American electric vehicle (EV) manufacturer is welcome to start business in India, as long as imports from China don’t enter the Indian market, which is simply unacceptable to the Government of India. We will allow Tesla to come to India but they cannot manufacture in China and sell it in India. That is an impossible thing to happen,” Gadkari stated.
Besides road safety and driverless vehicles, Gadkari also highlighted the importance of hydrogen as fuel for future mobility and the need to adopt advanced technology to improve public infrastructure. “Hydrogen is the futuristic fuel and we are working towards bringing the best technology to help in enhancing the public infrastructure,” he further said.
(With inputs from Agencies)
