Driverless cars would reduce India’s driver employment greatly, said Nitin Gadkari
At a time when the automobile industry in the US and Europe is witnessing an increasing number of driverless cars, India has no plans to introduce driverless cars in the domestic automobile market. Nitin Gadkari, the union minister of road transport and highways, clarified on Monday that India would not be introducing driverless cars as it would lead to a significant decline in the employment of drivers. He was speaking to Business Today on the sidelines of the Zero Mile Samvad organized by IIM Nagpur.
“If autonomous cars are introduced, approximately 70 to 80 lakh people will lose their jobs. This will create a great deal of chaos, and I would not allow that to occur,” Gadkari stated in a statement.
Elon Musk’s Tesla is preparing to enter the Indian automobile market with strong intentions, as evidenced by his statement. Tesla has been in discussions with Indian government officials to lower import duties before it can begin production locally. Tesla is the largest manufacturer of driverless cars in the United States.
In his remarks, Gadkari suggested that Tesla should manufacture and sell cars in India if it wishes to enter the domestic automobile industry. Tesla should manufacture and sell its products in India, not in China. The union minister believes that Tesla should manufacture and sell its products in India.
This statement comes shortly after the government informed Parliament last week that there has been no proposal for exempting electric vehicles from local value addition costs or providing a subsidy on import duty. According to reports, this is a major setback for Tesla, the US manufacturer of electric vehicles.
As for the impact of electric vehicle sales on the market for petrol and diesel vehicles, Gadkari believes there will be no impact on these sales. According to him, due to the decline in lithium-ion battery prices on the international market, the price of electric vehicles will be similar to that of petrol and diesel vehicles shortly. In addition to his remarks, Gadkari added that lithium-ion batteries previously cost approximately $150 per kWh. As of now, it has decreased to $115 per kilowatt hour. As soon as the price of EVs and petrol and diesel vehicles falls below $100/kWh, which is likely to happen soon, the prices will be the same.
If you are an EV manufacturer (or) EV Dealer (or) EV Supporter who want to share news related to electric vehicles on our website, please send an email to crm@electricvehicles.in
For the latest electric vehicles news,
follow electricvehicles.in on
and our YouTube Channels
