Govt explores commercial vehicle driver rating index for skill assessment

The government is exploring a driver rating system and new EV trucking frameworks to improve logistics efficiency and road safety

Amid logistics operators facing a shortage of skilled drivers, the government is considering the introduction of an index by which drivers can be rated on several parameters.

 

This is a rating system of drivers of commercial vehicles such as trucks to rank their skills and the history of driving behaviour, said Road Transport and Highways Secretary V Umashankar on Friday.

 

Representations were made to the ministry to create a driver-ranking/rating system, which can help logistics operators in engaging drivers based on past challan history, the number of years of the licence, insurance, and various other factors, Umashankar said at the Confederation of Indian Industry’s Multimodal Transportation and Logistics Summit here.

 

The government has started piecing together the preliminary nuts and bolts of the framework. “The key would be the parameters that go into it. The Chennai Mathematical Institute, which is the foremost institute in mathematics in the country, is helping us to devise a rating system. If that comes about, it will assist the logistics operators in the recruitment process,” said Umashankar.

 

Umashankar cited similar efforts being made by “rent-a-car” facilities for them to judge individuals who were looking to rent cars and assess their fitness.

 

He, however, added that the mechanism was still being considered, and a firm decision to implement it had not been made yet.

 

India faces a shortage of skilled drivers. After a meeting with transport ministers of states last year, Union minister Nitin Gadkari had announced a ₹4,500 crore scheme to set up 1,600 driver-training institutes to address the 2.2 million workforce gap for skilled drivers in India.

 

Umashankar on Friday said that logistics operators must collaborate with the government on this. The government can provide the basic infrastructure.

 

Internationalising commercial driving systems through EVs

 

Amid negligible electric-vehicle penetration in heavy-load vehicles such as large trucks, the government is looking to introduce a truck-trailer framework where the consignment can be detached from the engine and attached to another, fully charged engine.

 

“We are looking at bringing a draft notification on truck-trailer soon,” Umashankar said.

 

This will to a large extent take care of the concerns that pertain to building an ecosystem that needs battery-swapping and battery charging for electric heavy-duty commercial vehicles, he added.

 

This, Umashankar said, will help address issues on trucks lying idle when charging takes place, adding that charging facilities with detachable container-laden trailers will be there at specific points.

 

Interestingly, the government will use this framework to dovetail into a global system of commercial heavy-haul driving. With detachable containers and specific charge points, the ministry will look to enable a pitstop system where drivers change shifts (or engines, in this case) at these specific locations where charging infrastructure is also present.

India, unlike other major economies, lacks an organised system of driver shifts, which has also been cited as reason for fatigue on duty and the number of road accidents caused by tired truck drivers.

 

On toll collection, the secretary said that the Global Navigation Satellite System toll system would be developed only when India has its own constellation of satellites because the current framework poses a security risk, and till then the recently launched multilane free flow system will continue.

 

Amid the crisis in West Asia, the government will look to bring out a mandate on blending diesel with isobutanol — a demand Gadkari had made in the past.

 

“Blending of diesel has been looked at with seriousness. Bharat Petroleum Corporation is doing strategic research for iso-butanol blending with diesel. And the results are encouraging. It is likely that the blending mandate will come later this year. And the consumption of diesel is almost two times that of petrol. So, the impact on blending in terms of diesel is concerned will have a far greater impact on our energy security than even petrol blending,” said Umashankar.