Wednesday, July 13, 2016

Hate traffic? An Indian city is getting futuristic pod taxis to beat traffic blues.


Gurgaon, a suburb of New Delhi and home to India headquarters of Google, Microsoft and Apple, is about to get driverless electric pods to alleviate the traffic woes faced by thousands of people who commute to their offices daily.

The pilot project is expected to connect the Delhi border to the interiors of Gurgaon, with 16 stations spread over a distance of 13 km. The driverless electric pods will be suspended from overhead rails, and run at regular intervals.

The average speed of the pods is 60 km per hour and they can be used to transport between five to six commuters in each ride. The pilot project is expected to carry 30,000 passengers a day and will cost approximately Rs 8.5 billion ($126 million), which is lesser than what it would take to build a metro network over the same distance.

The Indian government is currently processing the bids that it has received from global companies for the project and is expected to make a final announcement by next month. It hopes that the project will reduce traffic on the National Highway-8, which connects Delhi to Gurgaon and the city's international airport.

Read Sonam Joshi's article at http://mashable.com/2016/07/13/gurgaon-pod-taxis/#WDmjSpY1eqqX.

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