What are pod taxis and why are they coming to India?

Personal rapid transit (PRT), also known as pod cars or pod taxis, is a public transport system developed for travelling swiftly in congested areas. They operate much like the traditional rail and streetcar network and are built above busy roads and highways. They are automated driverless vehicles and can carry four to six people in at a time.

Pod-taxis are futuristic transport concept which is environment-friendly and can be run on solar power and other renewal power, bringing down pollution in densely populated areas. According to one estimate, a solar powered pod-taxi could cost one-tenth of an ordinary running car.

READ: India to soon add pod taxis to its public transport system in six states

The first pod-taxis were run at West Virginia University (WVU) in the 1970s. The other cities where pod-taxis are currently operating are Masdar City, Abu Dhabi running on CyberCab system known as METRINO and London's Heathrow airport. It covers a distance of 3.8 kilometres operational since 2011. The average speed of pods is 60 km per hour.

There are numerous PRT systems that were proposed, but they didn’t get implemented. In India, around six states are looking to add pod taxis in some big cities to decongest traffic.