What’s happening?
Today in every sector there are people developing AI
systems to make things easier and faster, and automotive is no exception. For
years the self-driving cars are being developed by Google, Tesla, Apple, etc.
These companies have come so far while developing it, that we now
have proper functioning semi-autonomous cars working on the roads with the help
of this we will see how quickly self-driving vehicles are likely to be
developed and be deployed based on experience with previous vehicle
technologies, their benefits and costs, and how they are likely to affect
travel demands and planning decisions such as optimal road, parking and public
transit supply.
In this article, I will talk about how these cars will work, how
it will handle itself on the road and, how it will protect the driver and other
people. Next point that I will cover is; the readiness of India for this
technology, Indian road conditions and drivers etc.
Next point will be is a decision taken by Indian Govt on this new
technology. How the self-driving cars will affect the drivers and employees of
taxi services in future.
What are Self-driving cars?
Self-driving cars are those cars which can take the decision for
themselves while driving the (self or by partially by humans), they don’t need
human intervention. Now the technology is developing at such a rate that in
perfect condition they can take you from one destination to another with ease.
Let’s see how does it work
The car is fitted with lots of sensors to detect each and every
object around the car. Which intern creates an image of the surrounding
analysing each and every object present there and their speed and direction.
After which it sends this information to the server where it is processed, you
can expect to have that powerful processor in the car else there will no space
left in the car except for the passengers. To create a space the car is
continuously connected with the net and doing its job perfectly.
There are different levels of automation:
(For on-road vehicles)
Currently, level 3 cars can be seen on road like Tesla, in which
you can take your eyes off the road when you’re on highway and car will monitor
itself and keep you in the lane at safe speed and secure.
How many lose their life because of an error?
WHO states that in more than 1.25 million deaths that occur every
year more than 80 % of deaths are because of human error. What if we remove the
remove the human than there will be no human error, hence reduction of at least
70% deaths in a year.
India has one of the highest death rates on the road compared to
her Asian neighbour’s as well as the European and Western countries. One
country which can be pointed out for having a higher number of death cases than
India is China. In India, around 1 lakh to 1.5 people lose their lives in road
accidents every year, and in China, it’s around 2 lakhs.
Why haven’t the technology reached here?
This technology needs a lot of infrastructures in the coming days
for it to work properly. In India, the data network connectivity is not the
best at all places which are needed by the car to work efficiently.
One thing is the condition of the roads; a car is continuously
monitoring the road, and with these many potholes in the road, the car will
stop its function as it will not know what to do (no pun intended).
Another factor is the drivers; in India, drivers don’t tend to
follow rules. And for a technology which will go by rules, it will be tough to
drive on road. Another factor is traffic, in India no one follow any rules even
the lane rules, and the space between each car is close to zero-inch and a
self-driving car keep a safe distance before going in any direction, so in a
country like India it will get stuck in the traffic, unable to follow lane or
traffic. In a way, we can say that India is not ready for a self-driving car.
The Indian government has banned the self-driving cars for now. In
a news article, we found that: “India is resisting the push towards
driverless cars in order to protect jobs, its transport minister has said”.
Job loss because of automation.
Nitin Gadkari said the government would "not allow any
technology that takes away jobs".
He said India needed to recruit about 22,000 more commercial
drivers and would be opening 100 training facilities to address the need.
India's road system and sometimes chaotic traffic make it a
difficult place to develop the technology.
The Hindustan Times reports Mr Gadkari as saying:
"We won't allow driverless cars in India. I am very clear about this.
"In a country where you have unemployment, you can't have a
technology that ends up taking people's jobs."
To check how many jobs will be lost in India:
Avg cost of current taxi in Mumbai =7,00,000
Cost of cheapest currently working
stage 3 autonomous car = 55,00,000
So you can guess what a fully self-driving car will cost, and if
it is brought in India, the middle class and upper middle class are not going
to be the one who is going to buy this car, and maximum drivers in service
generate their revenue from the upper middle class and people below them. And
for a technology to get cheaper it needs a good demand and for a technology
this expensive it will take time to get a demand.
The government thinks it will take jobs, but I think it will
create more jobs than it will take, as to make these cars in India they will
need skilled workers and labours. After that maintain these cars on regular
basis and a 24x7 helpline centre with a cloud system. it will definitely create
lots of jobs.
Next thing is the mindset of India’s most the people, who can
afford but, might not be comfortable with self-driving cars, or might not be
aware of the technology. There needs to be some kind of awareness so that
people can know about it.
Conclusion
To conclude that, the world will see a proper working self-driving
car in the next 5 year. India is not currently ready for a self-driving car because
of its infrastructure, and the Indian driver’s behaviour on road. Reason for
banning self-driving cars is still not justified as it will not take as many
jobs as they think, it might increase the jobs.
With all of these changes happening in our country as well as
globally, we can expect a drastic shift in the automobile ecosystem in our
country.
Very good in-depth article! Thanks for sharing this @ Abhinav
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