India Might Soon Get Its Own Pod Taxi Service That Will Let You Zoom Overhead At 80 Km/h

Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) is in pursuit of making India¡¯s first Pod taxi service a reality and as per a recent report, the company will be finalising the country¡¯s first site for its prototype soon. For those unaware, a Pod taxi service is an autonomous or self-driven rapid transport system for personal use. It employs the so-called ¡®Pods¡¯ for transportation on a set course through magnetic levitation or other methods like overhead suspension.

Last week, Reliance Industries Limited, through its Reliance Industrial Investments and Holdings Ltd, had acquired a 12.7% stake in US-based SkyTran. As per the terms of the deals, it will be RIL that will finalise the site for the first prototype of Pod taxi service in India.

To recall, the prospect of Pod taxis in India was first initiated by Nitin Gadkari back in 2016 following which, NITI Aayog had cleared the ministry¡¯s proposal for three rapid transit systems using Pod taxis. The three global companies selected for this at the time were Ultra Global PRT, SkyTran and Metrino PRT.

There were, however, some prerequisites set along with the approval. The conditions mentioned that the transit system should be piloted on a 1 km stretch first, the cost of which will be borne by the bidder itself. The testing site should also be expandable to a 15-20 kms stretch post a successful run. The success would also account the comparison of the energy consumed per km with the existing modes of transports.

SkyTran

As per a report, a person who was a part of the deal and negotiations mentioned that for the prototype, some of the parts would be imported from the US while majority will be made in India. In addition, Reliance will also provide SkyTran with multiple technologies for the prototype, including communication technology. SkyTran would bring in its expertise in the form of passive magnetic levitation technology for the Pod taxi service.

Once the pilot run is successful, RIL will have to acquire separate agreements from both the centre and the state to set up the infrastructure for expansion.

As mentioned in the report, the ballpark figure for the prototype will be Rs 100 crore per km for tracks running in both the directions. Comparing this cost with other modes of transport, a report by former Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu dated back to 2015 had mentioned a cost of Rs 100-140 crore for the construction of 1 km of high-speed railway tracks, back in 2015. As per the report, this was around ten times the cost of a normal railway line.

Then again, the SkyTran's Pod taxi service concept is not really anything like the existing railway system. It is more like a personal cab, without a driver, zooming through the air at speeds of up to 80 km/h within the city. It also means that once the passenger is aboard, the Pod would have no stops until the destination.