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.
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 29th out of 30 countries. In 2019, India's rank was 24th 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.
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.
Automobile policies across the globe are robust, and these countries are in the advanced stages of testing vehicles. Some laws across different countries are:
In India, there are some hindrances as well that can affect the speed of development. The issues are:
