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SMART TODAY SMARTER TOMORROW

scheduled trips. The numbers would In India, we are not good in terms of
come from three or four different road length. Contrary to the standard
strategies. First and foremost is the perception, we have one of the highest Ultimately
government regulations. At least in the coverages in terms of land area for our what all of us
segment of the shared mobility i.e., roads. Unless we utilise the land space
taxi services, the regulations have been efficiently, we will probably be ending want is higher
positive and progressive; however, the up in a situation where we have to throughput from
advancement of technology makes the create one additional lane of national
regulations appear inadequate. highway almost every three to four the same road,
Regulations play a crucial role when it years, and that is practically impossible. more space for the
comes to autonomous and connected So asset sharing is going to be one pedestrians, more
vehicles that leave less scope for the of the better feature. Using shared
drivers. Tomorrow, if a car which assets or aggregators has led to sharp space for probably
has an advanced emergency braking reduction in drunk driving cases. But greening and
system sees an object ahead, it will what is more important is to provide
immediately stop even when the driver good bus transport for the general less space for the
is fatigued or drowsy. But who is going public. This can happen in the next five roads
to be responsible for the accident if it years.
is caused? Is it the car manufacturer or As far as aggregators are concerned,
the driver? As per the law, the driver is we are looking towards a win-
responsible for the vehicle on the road. win situation. The discussions has useful way of penetrating almost every
These are the issues we need to address. always been on either pro-driver common man’s life because it offered
The recent motor vehicle amendment or pro-aggregator and hardly on economical and shared mobility.
bill incorporates a large number of road pro-commuter. The fact is that the So, sharing in e-rickshaws is a classic
safety provisions. Section 2B allows commuters have benefited from the example of asset sharing because of the
the central government to provide aggregators’ existence because they relaxation of the regulations. From the
exemptions and promote innovations in are picked up at the door step. Here, government side, we have relaxed or
technology. Often the throughput is so the idea is how to make it a winning exempted all the electric vehicles from
less when you are driving, because the proposition for all. Aggregators are one permit requirements. One taxi or one
vehicles are not talking to each other. of the biggest employment churners in shared car or three-wheeler will reduce
Therefore, every vehicle has to maintain the recent past, the drivers’ interest ten private cars from the road, and it is
a three-second safe rule from the needs has to be protected. If the good for the country & cities reducing
second vehicle. Now, if you are driving aggregators do not earn profit they will the emission levels and increase safety.
at a speed of 60 kms per hour then the not be able to sustain in this business.
distance between the two vehicles has So, it has to be seen that everyone earns EV would require a lot more of R&D
to be about approximately 48 metres, decent profits, if there is a dynamic to go ahead. It is all about adoption and
so almost 50 metres distance would pricing we have to appreciate that it is it is not about the cost only. It is also
be required. If you are driving on the the driver who is going to benefit the about quality, reliability, and customers
expressway at a speed of 120 kms per most. comfort. So very rightly, the charging
hour, 100 metres distance has to be stations should be in place before the
maintained between the two vehicles. Electric Vehicles EVs are introduced. If there are two or
Naturally, if you are using the complete Research reports indicate EV three charging stations near the house,
asset, a four-metre car with 100 metres industry to grow to $ 5 billion in the one would opt for an EV, even if it costs
distance in between, our utilisation of next five years. That is about Rs. a bit more. This is a prerequisite and our
the road infrastructure would be four 35,000Cr industry after five years government is working on the charging
percent probably out of the total length when our automobile industry size station policy but then this is also an
of the road. Going forward, with the would be something like Rs.7 lakh Cr area where private sector can play a role
help of technology this safe distance at 5% penetration. We are seeing that by providing additional employment.
could be reduced when the vehicles e-rickshaws came up because they did More importantly, EV can lead to lesser
start communicating. not require permits; they found a very CO2, lesser emissions on the road.

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