Why India is not suitable for self driving cars.

India is the second most populated country in the world. Most of us know that, but are there quality plans to handle a country with such high population ? there is no correct answer for that. A country shall be called disciplined not just by implementing safety rules but also by following them. A funny comment always said by Indian motorist will be "If i am able to reach my destination safely in my bike, then i am qualified to drive anywhere across the world". The reason for this comment is not only because of high traffic but also due to poor road conditions and individuals who fail to follow the rules in the country. 

There are a few facts that might make it difficult for autonomous driving to do better in India.  
1) Poor road conditions 
2) Incorrect / Broken signals
3) People crossing the road anywhere except zebra crossing - Real life Temple Run
4) Careless driving
5) Roadside Parking
6) Water clogging in rainy days

Poor road conditions

The road conditions in India are very poor especially inside cities. There are many real life incidents of people who died just because of a small potholes in roads. Not only motorist, even car drivers also have 60% chance of losing control after their car hits a pothole. Cars can be controlled and avoided from being hit if the driver notices the pothole from a particular distance, if not then it may or may not lead to an accident. The percentage of a driver noticing a pothole splits into two, "80% and 20%". 80% of the time a driver notices a pothole and wont for the remaining 20%. Today's artificial intelligence has reached a level where it always need a human by its side and in automobile industry a machine can identify and do things which a human could do in a better way. An example for this is an Tesla car accident which occurred on a Friday morning on March 23rd 2018 when a person named Walter Huang ,38, was a huge fan of auto pilot - switched on the autopilot system of his Tesla which failed to detect a lane divider in the middle and crashed into it. The reason for this was revealed later that due to high brightness the sensor's failed to detect the lane divider which led to the collision, but Tesla states that its car's are having 200 plus trips on the same stretch every day and none of which has lead to a collision and also said that the driver's hands were not on the wheel for 6 seconds before collision.

The reason why i am mentioning this incident is, there are still a few things a human can find and a machine cannot. If Walter Huang was driving the car on that day instead of letting the car to take decisions he would have easily seen the lane divider next to him and would have escaped from the accident. The same applies to a pothole. The chances of a human finding a pothole is high when compared to a machine. This will be the first reason why autonomous driving wont be suitable for India. 

Incorrect / Broken signals

An autonomous car will be programmed based on basic rules followed in a country, like road lanes, signals, road signs, speed limit etc. An autonomous car needs to detect everything to drive properly. If the car detects a road sign for speed limit it automatically adjust's its speed to the said value on the sign. What if there are no boards, apart from speed signs, signals play an important role in autonomous vehicles. If the car detects stop signal(RED) then the car reduces its speed and comes to a pause on the stop line or behind the car moving in from of it. The car will be programmed in a way that if the signal shows red and the car detects no other vehicle in front of it, then it will come to pause just before the stop line. On the other hand if the car detects any vehicle in front of it during a stop signal then it comes to a pause right behind the vehicle moving in front. Now, what if the signal is red and the vehicle moving in front stops after the stop line, what will the autonomous car do - come to a pause a few meters behind the car which was moving in front of it or stops exactly before the stop line ?. Because in India no vehicle stops before the stop line in most of the roads and not all signals work. 50% of Indian road signals are broken, 75% of road signals in Delhi are faulty and the list goes on. In roads where signals are broken traffic will be guided with the help of city police, if an autonomous car is put to this kind of situation, how will the car detect that the traffic police is asking the traffic to stop by raising the hand and not using red signal ?  Cities like Hyderabad, Chennai and other cities in India are facing this issue. It will be difficult for autonomous vehicles to handle these kinds of situations.

People crossing the road anywhere except zebra crossing

This is the most important of all, we will be told to concentrate on the road for a successful ride but the unsaid advice is - you have to keep an eye on the lane divider and the pedestrian platform too. It will literally be like playing temple run. You don't know who will cross the road from where, especially in highways. Accidents occur not only because of drivers fault but also due to pedestrians fault. Every pedestrian will cross the road in zebra crossing when they allowed to, this happens across the globe but the only difference is, in India people don't use zebra crossing.  We can not only blame pedestrians, motorist and four wheel drivers brings their vehicle to a pause only in zebra crossing. 

Autonomous vehicles are totally dependent on sensors. Their should be a lot of calculations done for bringing an autonomous vehicle to stop for a person crossing the road suddenly. Indian drivers know about their fellow citizens so they will be very careful while driving but it will definitely take some time for developing this alertness to a machine through code. As i said, it is a real life Temple Run game.

Careless driving

Riding vehicles in opposite lanes and making a sudden turn without using indicators are part of careless driving. What everyone need to know is, no one should believe that a machine can make sudden decisions. It might, but not 100% sure. The chances that a machine can take a wrong decision all of a sudden are high. Some people drive in opposite lanes either inside city or even in some highways. When the vehicle is driven manually these can be noticed and proper decisions can be made, but if the vehicle is in autonomous mode then the risk factors are high. 

Roadside Parking

If there is high traffic in highways there are can be many reasons - it can be an accident, road construction so they had to merge lanes or even due to a slow moving vehicle ahead which blocks all the vehicles behind. But if there is traffic inside city and that too in small streets then the only reason is Roadside parking. Roadside parking is an offence. Vehicles will be parked on road ends which sometimes blocks the visual while the driver is attempting to make a right or left turn. The even more worst situation is when after making a turn, the driver would notice the car parked at the corner and would have to apply brakes all of a sudden. We could not expect autonomous cars to do the same. 

Water clogging in Rainy Days

The final and main reason for why India is not suitable for self driving cars is water clogging. Manual driving can be done at all times but the possibility of a person believing a self driving car during rainy days and that too when the roads are clogged are zero. It is really dangerous for manual driving in water clogged roads. To make a self driving car pass through a water clogged road what all autonomous car companies have to do, is to implement x-ray vision in cars so that the cars can scan through water and avoid the potholes that are already present under water. It is always a challenge for humans to drive through water clogged road. 

Conclusion

If you have read the above reasons completely then you would have definitely understood why India is not suitable for self driving cars. The only way India will be suitable for self driving cars are when all the above issues are fixed. If you still think i am wrong and believe that India can do better with self driving cars then please provide your thoughts in the comment section.