G V Krishnan feels that Hertz self-drive cars may work in the West, but not in India.

“BIAL does see a demand for self-drive cars at the airport,” says CEO Albert Brunner. Wonder which class of people he has in mind. Senior executives who are entitled to the company car and driver? Or visiting company clients? They are met at the arrival gate by drivers holding placards that read ‘Mr Mani of Infy’, ‘Mr Perumal for HCL’, ‘Mr Li Yu for yahoo’ or ‘Mr Brunner from Reuter’.

Are the Yu’s, the Perumals and Manis the targeted customers for self-drive car hire? Hertz spokesman H R Venkataraman is quoted in The Hindu as saying his company would market the concept aggressively, though he concedes that our awareness of the concept In India is low.