M&M hopes for regulatory clearance for its ambitious autonomous tractors
The company also said that progressively such tractors will be exported to Japan and US but only after they establish themselves firmly in the Indian market which the company expects to happen in 18 months after they are launched.
September 19, 2017 / 18:46 IST
Mahindra & Mahindra, the market leader in tractors, is hoping that the government will allow it to sell at least semi-driverless tractors before its launch date in the last quarter of this financial year.
The company, which today showcased fully autonomous tractors, hopes to launch them before the end of next financial year. While such tractors are available in overseas markets they are completely new concepts to the Indian market.
The government of India has clarified its stand on driverless technology stating that it would not allow the technology to come to India as it would lead potential job losses, especially in the taxi segment. However, the government is yet to frame any such regulations for tractors.
The Mumbai-based company did not specify the price range on which these would be available but said that the target is to bring down the price premium to below Rs 1 lakh.
Pawan Goenka, Managing Director, Mahindra & Mahindra said, “Right now the price (premium) is above Rs 1 lakh. We would ideally want it below Rs 1 lakh in order to make it more affordable to the end consumer. We will start with the driver assist before moving to quasi-driverless and finally completely autonomous”.
Such driverless tractors are targeted at small farmers with land holdings between 20-40 acres. Such technology will be made available across all the three platforms of the company- Jivo, Nuvo and Yuvo.
The company also said that progressively such tractors will be exported to Japan and US but only after they establish themselves firmly in the Indian market which the company expects to happen in 18 months after they are launched.
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