India stood at the penultimate position for preparedness to adopt autonomous vehicles (AV) owing to poor infrastructure, technology and regulations.
KPMG’s report titled ‘2020 Autonomous Vehicles Readiness Index (AVRI)’ assessed and ranked 30 countries based on 4 parameters – policy and regulations, technology and innovation, infrastructure and consumer acceptance.
India ranked last in consumer acceptance, and stood just above Brazil in availability of infrastructure required to popularise driverless vehicles.
The country secured the lowest score in formulation of AV centric regulations.
India stood among the bottom ten countries along with Mexico for road quality and last five for innovation capability.
The implementation and usage of driverless cars has been deferred in India on account of potential job loss of 2.2 million commercial drivers across the country, the report stated.
India’s government is focused on developing the use of electric vehicles (EV) before it tackles AVs, although this presents its own challenges, according to Sameer Bhatnagar, Partner, Transport and Logistics, KPMG India.
Some agencies are working to develop electric charging infrastructure in alignment with the FAME Scheme, adopted in 2015 for EVs, but it would be desirable for the government to develop a national strategy in association with the country’s states for AVs as well. Adoption of EVs and AVs could impact areas such as insurance and IT sector, Bhatnagar added.
Adoption of AVs and EVs in India is likely to start with commercial applications in warehouses, ports and on farms.
Using such equipment would improve performance, and reduce dependence on migrant labor as has been manifested as a key need in India due to the pandemic, the report said.
