At Zero Mile Samvad hosted by IIM Nagpur Nitin Gadkari who is the union minister of road transport and highways made it very clear that he is against launching driverless car technology in India.
In his speech, Nitin Gadkari mentioned “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”.
Nitin Gadkari’s speech at IIM Nagpur is now a subject of the debate. To understand the depth of this debate let’s brainstorm his statement.
Following are the detailed reasons behind Nitin Gadkari’s bold statement.
1. Lead to More unemployment:
India is facing a severe unemployment problem. Estimated unemployment rate(UR) for youth of age 15-29 was 10% during the year of 2022-2023.
Bringing driverless technology to India can make the unemployment problem even worse. If driverless technology is introduced in India more than 60 to 80 lakh people will lose their jobs. This alarming number of job losses and unemployment can shake the entire economy of India.
2. Hazardous traffic conditions:
In India walking on the road is not a cakewalk. Traffic conditions are not smooth in India in comparison to other countries. Traffic conditions in India consist bus, rikshaws, cars, and sometimes bullock carts as well. In this diverse traffic situation, driverless technology can cause more cause rather than ease. This complex traffic situation can be very challenging for autonomous vehicle technology
3. Bad Infrastructure :
Indian infrastructure in many places does not match the requirements of autonomous vehicle technology. Bad infrastructure with the combination of driverless cars can cause more accidents. That’s the also key reason why India is not ready for driverless car technology now.
4. Costly for the layman:
Driverless car technology will be out of the reach of ordinary people of India. Only the rich can enjoy the benefits of this technology. If technology is not useful for ordinary people in India then government will not show much interest in it. That’s why Nitin Gadkari rejected the idea of driverless technology openly.
5. No monitoring and regulation process:
Driverless car technology also needs some monitoring and regulation laws. We can not simply launch the technology without having any monitoring rules and regulations. An emergency can also occur in driverless car technology.
Without proper monitoring and regulation launching driverless technology will cause more trouble in comparison to traditional means of transport.
The Way Forward: Innovation and Growth
India is emerging as a developing nation and soon it will be a developed nation. India is the world’s fifth-largest economy and soon will be third. If we want to grow continuously we have to evolve ourselves with the pace of technology and innovation.
As an emerging nation and Vishwa guru, we can not simply reject technology. The future belongs to Artificial intelligence and more AI-related innovations. We have to resolve issues like bad infrastructure, low per capita income, and Bad traffic conditions to adopt driverless car technology. Only by mitigating problems, we can be more future-ready and technologically advanced.