Vehicles With Automated Driving Systems Policy

In India, specific policy gaps exist with respect to automated driving systems. Also, driving as a profession is done by a huge population, which might not be feasible to replace with automated driving systems.

India's Policy on Vehicles with Automated Driving Systems

An automated driving system can drive a vehicle itself without any human intervention. It sounds like a sci-fi movie, right? Although it is not yet, the way technology is moving, this might be possible some years down the line. So, to prepare for that eventuality, policies should be in place to support autonomous driving systems.

As per the KPMG 2020 rankings of the autonomous vehicle readiness index, India has secured a rank of 29^th out of 30 countries. In 2019, India's rank was 24^th out of 25 countries. The only country behind India is Brazil. Singapore, the Netherlands, Norway, and the United States of America lead the rankings. In India also, the policy needs to be in place so that we are ready for when the technology finally becomes useful.

Indian Laws

The automobile laws in India are governed by the Motor Vehicle Act 1988. As per the laws, a driver can be anyone over the age of 18. Thus, it automatically eliminates autonomous driving technology. The law does not even allow the testing of autonomous driving technology. This was unlike the developed countries, which have laws specifically for autonomous driving and testing.

However, the government introduced the Motor Vehicle Act of 2019, which replaced its predecessors. The law allows for the testing of autonomous vehicles. This is a huge improvement, and some companies are developing autonomous vehicles, and they are allowed to test them as well.

Global Policies

Automobile policies across the globe are robust, and these countries are in the advanced stages of testing vehicles. Some laws across different countries are:

• Britain: In Britain, the responsibility for an accident lies with the car owner, even if autonomous driving technology is being used. Also, for insured vehicles, if the accident happens because of a faulty software update, the AI tech company is not liable for lawsuits. Thus, the country has very favourable policies for autonomous driving systems.
• Germany: German laws keep the AI company liable for accidents. They are in accordance with the Vienna Convention on Road Traffic, 1968. It specifically asks the car manufacturers to install a black box in the car connected to the GPS, which can be used to ascertain if the accident happened because of the driver or autonomous driving technology. The liability is determined as per the black box data.

India-specific issues

In India, there are some hindrances as well that can affect the speed of development. The issues are:

1. Employment: In India, the population of drivers is huge. In India, there are approximately 20 lakh truck drivers. Apart from that, there are several bus drivers, car drivers, etc. as well. Thus, the government might want to save these jobs, and autonomous driving systems might be too farfetched for a country like India.

2. Roads: India has the third-largest road network in the world, but a large portion of the roads have potholes and very heavy traffic. Also, the lanes in cities are extremely narrow. Thus, autonomous driving technology might not be suitable for India.